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©Wm. H. Ran 



BUFFALO BILL 



THE BOYS' 
BOOK OF SCOUTS 



BY 

PERCY KEESE FITZHUGH 

Author of "Along the Mohawk Trail," Etc. 



ILLUSTRATED 



NEW YORK 

THOMAS Y CROWELL COMPANY 
PUBLISHERS 






Copyright, 1917, 
By THOMAS Y. CROWELL COMPANY 






//; 



r- 



m 14 1917 



■©C1,A477544 



PREFACE 

As every boy knows, this great country of onrs 
was in the beginning a very little country, occupy- 
ing a narrow strip of land along the Atlantic 
Coast. The vast ocean w^ashed against it, and 
across this ocean brave men, heroic, intrepid, 
and adventurous, had come, braving its perils, 
and had founded their little colonies along its 
wild, rugged shore. 

These men were explorers — water scouts, they 
might be called— and their lives and deeds were 
marvels of prow^ess and adventure. 

But beyond this narrow strip of land lay an- 
other wilderness, mysterious and unexplored, and 
as dark and perilous and trackless as the wild 
ocean to the eastward. The thirteen colonies, 
and later the little republic, lay between these 
two vast silent wastes ; and men soon found that 
of the tw^o the w^atery one was the easier to 
explore. 

At least, it was not so difficult to estimate 
its perils. There w^ere storms and there were 
pirates ; but at least there were no unknown sav- 
ages, no wild beasts, no frowming mountains, or 
barren, wind-swept plains— no scorching sands. 

This land ocean was as wide as the watery 



iv PEEFACE 

one and a great deal more mysterions. The 
venturesome explorers and settlers had solved 
one mystery only to find another. Miles and 
miles of fro^vning wilderness stretched to the 
westward showing no more sign of path or trail 
than the broad Atlantic had shown. Ships were 
of no use here, and there were no other vehicles 
which could be made use of. 

Men had no more knowledge of the extent and 
character of this wilderness, nor of what lay 
hidden in its impenetrable recesses, than Co- 
lumbus had possessed of what lay west of the 
Azores. The first men to cross this trackless, 
anknown waste were just as venturesome as the 
great Genoese, and they had a great many more 
adventures. 

Of course, the same spirit which had prompted 
men to cross the ocean prompted them to press 
still farther westward. Many were satisfied to 
remain where they were, but there were a few 
to whom the dense wilderness to the west was a 
continual challenge. They wished to know some- 
thing about it, to make it yield up its secrets, 
perhaps to remain and live within or beyond it. 

These men were of exactly the same spirit as 
their nautical brethren and predecessors, but by 
reason of tne character of the enterprises which 
they undertook and the necessity of devising new 
means with which to encounter new and different 
problems of adventure, they have come to be 



PEEFACE V 

regarded as a sort of race apart in onr history, 
and the counterpart of the American scout and 
pioneer is not knoAvn in any other land. 

Under the general heading of ^* Scout," which 
means one who goes ahead of an army to obtain 
information, we include here men who did much 
more than that, who were scouts in a broader 
sense, and whose adventurous deeds were not 
limited to their military activities. Some of them 
ivent ahead not of an army, but of civilization, 
felling forests and fighting, because they had to 
fight the savages who challenged their advance. 
They are associated in our minds quite as much 
Avith the axe as with the gun, and the log cabin 
should be their emblem, for they were, most of 
them, religious men and apostles of the home. 

They began very early in our history pushing 
westward, and continued pushing westward as 
civilization tagged on behind them. 

These men, products of our o-^m land and 
breathing its bold spirit, are undoubtedly the 
most picturesque characters in history. They 
were as much a wonder to Europeans as the 
red Indian himself was. They were as resolute 
and as lofty of aim as the old Crusaders. 

Most of these men possessed all the qualities 
of heroism. They were models of pl^ysical man- 
hood, strong of will and muscle, romantic in 
attire and capable of enduring incredible hard- 
ships and privations. So extraordinary were 



vi PEEFACE 

their careers that many a boy in Europe has 
heard of them as myths. They were, as a rule, 
noble of stature, experts with gun and axe, and 
of indomitable persistence. The history of ad- 
venture knows no other characters so wholesome 
and rugged. 

Some of these pioneers lived many years ago, 
others nearer to our own time; as long as there 
was a frontier with lurking red men and more 
wildernesses beyond to be penetrated and sub- 
dued, they flourished. 

We know of some of these heroic figures as 
scouts, of others chiefly as pioneers, of others as 
backwoodsmen and of some as Indian fighters. 
But their hearts all beat with the same intrepid 
impulse. Patriotism and high resolve and scorn 
of hardship and suffering surged up within their 
stalwart bosoms, and we shall call them all 
scouts, for so they were in a sense. 

At least they were all alike in this — that their 
lives were lives of peril and adventure. They 
were the very best kind of scouts, for they loved 
home and peace and they were ready to fight for 
them. 

It would be impossible for the story-teller to 
imagine such experiences as fell to this noble 
army of buckskin patriots and warriors. 

The Boys' Booh of Scouts is intended to tell 
of the remarkable careers of some of the most 
conspicuous of these picturesque characters. We 



PEEFACa vii 

are not to think of them as fighters or as * Agoing 
west to fight the Indians," for they Avent with 
no such purpose; but they knew no fear, they 
shunned no peril, and they carried their guns 
as well as their axes because they knew there 
was no use going out to a lonely ' frontier with 
pinks in their buttonholes and shaking tin rattles. 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

George Eogers Clark 1 

David Crockett 21 

Samuel Houston 36 

Christopher (Kit) Carson 50 

Richard Wooton 68 

William Frederick Cody 81 

Belzy Dodd 97 

George Croghan 110 

Daniel Boone 127 

Francis Marion 144 

Samuel Brady 157 

Lewis and Clark 171 

Zebulon Montgomery Pike 188 

Andrew Lewis 203 

General Henry W. Lawton 219 

Joseph, the Nez Perce 233 

Old John Smith 250 

EuBE Stevens 265 

General George A. Custer 283 

James Bridger 303 

ix 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

Buffalo Bill Frontispiece 

PAGE 

George Rogers Clark 2 ^ 

The Death, of Davy Crockett, last survivor of the 

Alamo Garrison 34 

Sam Houston 38 

Christopher (Kit) Carson 50 

Trappers crossing the Eockies 82 ' 

National Monument to Buffalo Bill erected on 

Lookout Mountain, Colorado 96 

An Old-time Plains Fight 100 ' 

Daniel Boone 128 ^'^ 

General Marion and British Officers 144 ^ 

Capt. Meriweather Lewis 172 '- 

Gen. William Clark 176 ''' 

The Voyageurs 182'^ 

General Henry W. Lawton 230 ''' 

General George A. Custer 284 

" Curly," survivor of the Custer Battle 302 *- 



GEORGE EOGERS CLARK 

How he became a Kentucky pioneer; how he was elected 
to office but didn't get the office; how he procured 500 
pounds of gunpowder and carried it over the mountains; 
together with how he purposed using the powder; how 
he interrupted a dance; how he made his wonderful 
journey across Illinois and how he succeeded in opening 
the West for American expansion. Also of his country's 
ingratitude and of his unhappy last days. 

The fair ladies and gallant gentlemen of the 
remote little to^\Ti of Kaskaskia, on the Missis- 
sippi, were having a gala time of it on the night 
of July the fourth, seventeen seventy-eight, and 
the music to which they danced floated out 
through the portholes of their little fort and 
mingled with the soft evening breeze blowing 
over the fair country which is now a part of 
the great State of Illinois. 

Above the little fort floated the banner of 
King George; the officers who danced wore King 
George's uniform; and the dance which they 
danced was the minuet which more than one of 
them had learned at King George's Court. 

Of course, they knew there was a war; they 
kneAV the thirteen colonies had struck for inde- 
pendence, but they were not so proud and vision- 

1 



2 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

ary as to suppose that the American patriots 
would trouble them in their remote and all but 
unknown little settlement. 

So the gay young officers and fair ladies had 
turned the little fort of Kaskaskia into a scene 
of gayety and were loyally tripping the graceful 
measure of the minuet, when there suddenly 
appeared in the doorway a tall man in buckskin 
who bade the merrymakers to pause. 

Instantly the music ceased and all eyes turned 
in consternation upon the intruder whose pictur- 
esque but tattered costume of the backwoods 
must have contrasted oddly with the festive 
scene on which he gazed. 

He told them that he was sorry to interrupt 
their festivities, but that he had come to take 
the fort; adding that, while he would be glad 
to see them continue their dancing, they must 
bear in mind that they were dancing in honor of 
Virginia and of the United States of America — 
not of Great Britain and King George! 

The man v/ho thus appeared like an appari- 
tion in that remote frontier settlement was 
George Eogers Clark, a Virginian by birth and 
an elder brother of "William Clark, the famous 
companion of Meriwether Lewis. He was born 
on the 19th of November, 1752. 

Like George Washington, young Clark be- 
came a surveyor, which in those days meant 
long, hard journeys full of peril and adventure. 




GEORGE ROGERS CLARK 



GEORGE ROGERS CLARK 3 

He was tall and strong, and said by some to 
have had red hair, which we can readily believe 
if there is any trnth in the alleged affinity be- 
tween red hair and recklessness. 

Young Clark served with distinction in the 
war which Lord Dunmore, Royal Governor of 
Virginia, waged against the Indians, and which 
is commonly kno^\Ti as Lord Dunmore 's War. 
After that he went to Kentucky, which he had 
previously visited on one of his surveying trips, 
and in that famous backwoods country, which 
proved the stern school of so many good scouts, 
we find him following the congenial life of pio- 
neer and frontiersman when the War of Inde- 
pendence began. 

As soon as hostilities commenced, the Indians 
of the wild Kentucky frontier availed themselves 
of the excuse thus offered and began to war 
upon the lonely, unprotected settlements. 

We must remember that these isolated hamlets 
west of the Alleghenies were considered by the 
frontiersmen to belong to the thriving colony of 
Virginia, and the pioneers of that lonesome re- 
gion were not long in getting together and dele- 
gating one or two of their number to make a 
trip across the mountains and explain their 
defenceless position to the Virginia Legislature 
and to the Governor, who was none other than 
the famous '^iberty-or-death'' Patrick Henry. ^ 

Clark and one other were selected for this 



4 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

long journey and important mission and the 
hardy frontiersmen even went so far as to elect 
the two emissaries delegates from Kentucky to 
the Virginia Assembly — an original move, to 
say the least, since the wild country west of the 
mountains had no more political existence than 
the moon! 

The two pioneers and would-be members of 
the august body of Virginia made the trip across 
the mountains and arrived at the thriving me- 
tropolis of Williamsburgh, where they found 
that the session in which they had hoped to 
participate had come to an end — ^without even 
marking them absent! 

But they were still emissaries, if they liad 
missed their chance to be statesmen, and they 
found a ready listener in Governor Henry, to 
whom they described the dangers which beset 
their lonesome settlements beyond the mountains. 
They told him that in view of the w^ar and the 
consequent growing depredations of the Indians, 
five hundred pounds of powder would come 
handy. 

Patrick Henry could not deny this, but Vir- 
ginia was in no particular hurry to deal out 
such a quantity of this valuable commodity for 
use in the remote and supposedly unimportant 
wilderness, and it was some time before the 
earnest pleadings of Clark and his companion 
prevailed. 



GEORGE EOGERS CLARK 5 

At last Virginia gave them the powder and 
they faced the task of carrying it back across 
the mountains. They began their difficnlt return 
journey in high spirits, however, for they had 
succeeded not only in procuring the powder, but 
in winning official recognition of their lonely 
borderland as a part of Virginia, and entitled 
to at least some measure of protection and con- 
sideration. They made their journey back 
through a country of lurking savages, incited 
to the warpath by the British, and after braving 
many dangers and surmounting innumerable ob- 
stacles of travel, they brought the valuable pow- 
der and the good news to their companions of 
the frontier. 

But the colony of Virginia, with its gayety 
and its divers concerns and a heavy share of 
the burden of war resting upon its patriotic 
shoulders, did not take the West very seriously. 
Little those prosperous planters dreamed how 
that vast wilderness would one day be parceled 
out in prosperous and populous states, how the 
all but unkno^^m region between the Mississippi 
and the Wabash would, in the fulness of time, 
become the mighty commonwealth of Illinois 
with a seething world-center within its borders. 

They knew that along the Wabash in that 
far distant region was the old French settlement 
of Vincennes, and that on the Mississippi, a 
hundred and fifty or so miles farther west, Avas 



6 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

Kaskaskia, also of French origin, both now pos- 
sessed by Great Britain and holding British 
garrisons ; and they knew, also, of the old French 
post of Detroit. The knowledge did not trouble 
them at all, however, for these distant wilderness 
settlements and the vast country all about them 
were out of the game, so far as the War of 
Independence was concerned. 

It never entered the heads of the colonial 
authorities that those sequestered settlements 
in the great West might possibly be the keys 
to an enormous treasure chest. 

This was the very idea, however, which oc- 
curred to the far-sighted backwoodsman whose 
story we are telling. 

Of what use, thought he, is it to fight the 
Indians when the British sources of supply to 
them remain open? Why waste valuable powder 
on the disease when perhaps a bold stroke or 
two might eliminate the cause? 

These were the thoughts that suggested to 
young George Eogers Clark a scheme which, 
considering prospects and facilities, was nothing 
less than stupendous. He believed it would be 
better to employ his precious powder in the 
ambitious enterprise of surprising and taking 
these British posts than in continued fighting 
with the Indians. 

It would be a master stroke against the red 
men, no doubt; but who shall say that in the 



GEORGE EOGERS CLAEK 7 

mind of this young frontier patriot there was 
no prophetic picture of the victorious young 
republic pressing ever westward! No doubt he, 
who had seen something of this unknown area, 
as the Virginians had not, realized that if the 
thirteen emancipated colonies were going to grow 
they would need a good-sized backyard to grow 
in. And he resolved that by one bold stroke 
he would give them this priceless territory and 
put an end to the increasing Indian forays at 
the same time. 

We cannot to-day appreciate the bold concep- 
tion of this plan. We know what the West has 
become, but we cannot know how difficult of 
accomplishment, and indeed how unimportant, 
its winning must have seemed to the patriots 
whose whole interest and effort were centered 
along the seaboard and who had heard of Vin- 
cennes, Kaskaskia, and Detroit merely as quaint 
old French settlements, remote and inaccessible 
in a wild, unknown region, and now garrisoned 
by the English. 

But George Rogers Clark, scout of the Ken- 
tucky backwoods, not yet twenty-six years old, 
had a vision of what the conquest of these 
crucial posts might mean, and in 1777 he re- 
traced his way back to Virginia to lay his 
audacious plan before the Governor, Patrick 
Henry. 

Among the wise old heads who, with the gov- 



8 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

ernor, listened to the enthusiastic young pioneer, 
was the great Thomas Jefferson, whose shrewd 
gaze was always cast afar and who often saw 
where others saw not. It was altogether to be 
expected that the man who later sent Lewis and 
Clark to the Pacific and Zebulon Pike to the 
wilds of Colorado should lend a ready ear to the 
patriotic young Kentuckian, and his plan was 
promptly approved. 

In order that it might be carried out, he was 
given a commission as colonel, something over 
a thousand pounds of currency (which, owing to 
the war, was of greatly depreciated value), and 
authority to raise seven hundred and fifty men 
for his undertaking. The young frontiersman 
was not disposed to question the generosity of 
his sponsors nor the adequacy of his equipment, 
and he went forth delighted to attempt with 
these very insufficient means one of the boldest 
and, as it turned out, one of the most momentous 
feats in American history. 

On an island in the Ohio Eiver, close to where 
the city of Louisville now stands, Clark formed 
a miscellaneous little army consisting of ad- 
venturers and frontiersmen and numbering con- 
siderably fewer than the purposed seven hundred 
and fifty men. 

The object of his enterprise was kept a secret, 
and when at last rumors of it leaked out his 
followers began to desert right and left until 



GEORGE ROGERS CLARK 9 

there remained but one hundred and fifty of 
them, crudely drilled (for Clark was not a 
soldier in the disciplinary sense) and sadly 
unequipped. 

On the twenty-fourth of June, 1778, they 
started down the river in boats. There was 
an eclipse of the sun on that memorable day and 
the flotilla of tiny craft, tossed and separated 
by the tumultuous rapids, was whirled on in 
almost total darkness. 

They reunited where the swift current was 
less boisterous and made a pleasant voyage 
down the wide, hurrying stream until, on the 
fourth day, they fell in with a band of hunters, 
who had lately been at Kaskaskia. Hearing 
from young Clark of his intention to take that 
place, they asked if they might join the party 
— a request which was granted with alacrity. 

The student of frontier history is continually 
coming upon just such instances as this which 
pleasantly illustrate the romance of those ad- 
venturous times. Hunters, border settlers, scouts 
returning from other missions, were always 
turning back to accompany some venturesome 
expedition or other which they met by the way, 
and we are forced to the conclusion that, not- 
withstanding their usually lofty and practical 
purposes, they loved adventure for its own sweet 
sake. 

Leaving the Ohio, the party started across 



10 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

the prairie in the southern part of Illinois, 
headed for the Mississippi. The pitiable in- 
adequacy of their equipment here served them 
in good stead, for, being unhampered by luggage, 
they were able to make this monotonous part of 
their journey quickly, and on the fourth of July, 
as we have seen, they were at Kaskaskia, whose 
inhabitants and little garrison were in total 
ignorance of their approach until Clark struck 
his dramatic posture (he was a great lover of 
this sort of thing) in the doorway of the hall 
where the festivities were in progress. 

We are not told whether the dancing contin- 
ued, but it may safely be inferred that there was 
at least an intermission. 

No one except the doughty scout himself knew 
how many troops were surrounding the fort, 
and he was not the man to tell them that his 
martial legion consisted of somewhere in the 
neighborhood of two hundred frontiersmen. In- 
stead, he made a fine show of power, demanding 
the papers of the establishment, which were 
handed over to him and which revealed com- 
pletely (if any such confirmation was necessary) 
Great Britain's intriguing with the Indians. 

Thus George Rogers Clark, by his boldness, 
almost amounting to effrontery, surprised (in the 
most accurate meaning of that word) the remote 
old post of Kaskaskia and took the town without 
the loss of a sinerle life on either side. 



GEORGE ROGEES CLARK 11 

With a fine air of military autocracy, which, 
could not have been better if he had commanded 
serried ranks of warriors, he took the reins of 
government, ordering the people to their houses, 
and the people obeyed in fear and trembling, 
pleading for their lives. They called the Ken- 
tuckians ''Big Knives,'' because of the formid- 
able dirks which they carried. 

After thoroughly impressing the astonished 
people by his grim assumption of authority, he 
announced (we may presume with the same fine 
air) that he had come from the East bringing 
them freedom, not oppression, and besought 
their allegiance to the patriot cause. 

Many of the simple inhabitants were, of course, 
French, and on hearing from Clark the tidings 
of the French alliance with America and of 
the proud Burgoyne's surrender, they were only 
too ready to salute the American colors, which 
then for the first time were hoisted in that 
quaint settlement on the banks of the Father 
of Waters. 

The next world to conquer in young Clark's 
path of glory was Vincennes, about one hundred 
and fifty miles northeastward on the Wabash 
River. On hearing that the place was without 
a garrison and consisted largely of French peo- 
ple, Clark sent a French missionary, whom he 
had met at Kaskaskia, to take the place with 
the gentle weapons of persuasion and kindness, 



12 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

while he remained at Kaskaskia to manage its 
affairs. 

Father Gibanlt's mission was in all ways suc- 
cessful — a very model of Christian conquest. 
The inhabitants of Vincennes gladly raised the 
American flag and swore allegiance to the young 
republic, and shortly thereafter Clark sent a 
subordinate, Captain Leonard Helm, to take 
charge of the place. 

Meanwhile Clark, from Kaskaskia, managed 
with great skill the affairs of the whole vast 
province, of which it was the capital. Not the 
least of his duties was to subdue the Indians, 
whom he knew how to handle if any man did, 
and there was no more fomenting of discord 
and no more forays into Kentucky. 

But you are not to suppose that the bloodless 
conquest of Vincennes was to be permanent. 

There was one other strategic place on which 
we know that Colonel Clark had his eye, and 
this was Detroit, far northward of the two other 
settlements. Here lived the Koyal Governor of 
the whole province, William Harrison. When 
this official heard of the doings of Colonel Clark 
in the southwestern part of his domain, his an- 
ger knew no bounds and he resolved to strike 
into the Wabash Kiver, march down that stream, 
retake Vincennes, and then march across the 
Illinois country to the Mississippi and retake 
Kaskaskia. 



GEORGE ROGERS CLARK 13 

On the 17th of December, 1778, Harrison ap- 
peared before Vincennes with a force of about 
one hundred Canadians and as many Indians. 

This was not a very large array, but it was 
larger than Captain Helm's force, which con- 
sisted of one man. Undaunted by the imposing 
array of besiegers, the captain hauled his single 
cannon to a point of vantage and boldly an- 
nounced that the fort would not be surrendered 
until he knew what terms would be granted. 

Governor Hamilton, not knowing how large 
the garrison was, was not disposed to be exact- 
ing, and he answered that the troops should 
march out with all the honors of war ; whereupon 
Captain Helm, with his single soldier behind 
him, marched solemnly forth and Vincennes was 
again held by the British. 

It happened about a month later that a trader 
and hunter who had been held captive at Vin- 
cennes reached Kaskaskia and informed Colonel 
Clark that the place had been taken by Gov- 
ernor Hamilton, who, having repaired and 
strengthened it, had now left it in charge of 
a large force equipped with artillery. 

Clark, nothing daunted, resolved that what- 
ever the dangers and obstacles Vincennes should 
be retaken. It was winter and travel was diffi- 
cult, but he knew that if he waited until spring, 
Hamilton would be upon him at Kaskaskia, and 
he immediately made preparations for the ar- 



14 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

dnons jonrney which alone would entitle him to 
an honored place among scouts and pathfinders. 

He knew that the force at Vincennes was 
greatly superior both in numbers and equipment 
to his own little band of followers, and he knew 
that in that month of January, after a season 
of incessant rain and snow, the trip across the 
Illinois country would present obstacles well nigh 
insurmountable. But he knew, too, that Avhen 
the war should end, America could not lay claim 
to that vast province of the West unless it held 
Vincennes, and that delay vfould probably result 
in his losing Kaskaskia also. 

It is regrettable that Clark's memorable 
journey across the plains, amid alternate snow 
and rain and biting cold, cannot be recounted in 
detail. It was without doubt one of the most 
difficult marches in history. Braving gales of 
unprecedented fury, plodding through vast quag- 
mires and crossing rivers which had spread 
into veritable inland seas, the men labored on, 
drenched, starving, freezing — ^but resolute. 

In one place the flooded area was so great that 
they could not see beyond the watery waste. 
They built canoes and rafts and transported 
their diminishing stock of provisions across mile 
after mile of submerged prairie until there was 
no food left to carry and they were three days 
without sustenance of any sort. 

The floods had driven all game from the 



GEORGE EOGERS CLARK 15 

vicinity and they were on the point of starving 
when one of their number shot a deer which 
providentially had been canght in the floods. 
Its meat was divided among one hundred and 
sixty famished men. 

At length, after three weeks of such suffering 
and superhuman effort as seem scarcely credible, 
the indomitable Clark and his brave men crossed 
the Wabash and for two days more followed its 
overflowed banks until, standing waist deep in 
the freezing waters, they were able to hear in 
the distance the welcome sound of the evening 
gun on the fort at Vincennes. 

Their terrible journey was almost ended, and 
even as they climbed to higher ground in their 
approach to the town, the welcome sun appeared 
and they dried their soaked clothing in its cold, 
but grateful, radiance. During the ten preced- 
ing days they had had just three meals. A 
third of their journey had been made through 
water and all of it had been accompanied by 
biting cold and penetrating, wind-driven rain and 
snow, and other untold obstacles. 

No battle which might await these weary but 
imdiscouraged men could test their courage and 
their grim determination as that cruel journey 
had tested them! 

A little distance from the town Clark paused 
and sent the following letter by a French citi- 
zen whom he had met and taken prisoner: 



16 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

^^To THE Inhabitants of Post St. Vincents: 

Gentlemen: Being now within two miles of 
yonr village with my army, determined to take 
3^our fort this night, and not being willing to 
surprise yon, I take this method to request snch 
of you as are true citizens, and willing to enjoy 
the liberty I bring you, to remain still in your 
houses. And those, if any there be, that are 
friends to the King will instantly repair to the 
fort and join the Hair-buyer General * and fight 
like men. And if any such, as do not go to the 
fort shall be discovered afterwards, they may 
depend on severe punishment. On the contrary, 
those that are true friends to liberty may de- 
pend on being well treated. And I once more 
request them to keep out of the streets; for 
everyone I find in arms on my arrival I shall 
treat as an enemy. 

G. R. Clark." 

This was a very fine letter to be sent by the 
ragged, famished leader of a little band of less 
than two hundred weary, half-frozen men, but 
Clark's proclamations were always martial, even 
if his army were not. 

He now marched his imposing legion boldly 
into the town, and mth his usual air of auto- 

* Hamilton is said to have offered a bounty for the scalps 
of "rebels." 



GEORGE EOGERS CLARK 17 

cratic power disposed his hapless men about 
the fort, where they concealed their ragged and 
shivering forms behind trees, and began a lively 
rifle fire which lasted all night. The garrison 
was not very responsive, supposing it to be the 
playful pastime of some drunken Indians until 
the light of dawTi dispelled their illusion. 

The rising sun found Clark and his men still 
shooting away with a will from behind trees 
and hastily improvised breastworks, and the 
soldiers in the fort could not man their guns 
because of the incessant fire. 

Some sympathetic French inhabitants of the 
village now regaled the visitors with a hot 
breakfast, and this so refreshed their redoubt- 
able leader that he straightway sent a broad- 
side into the fort in the form of another letter, 
which read: 

In order to save yourself from the impending 
storm that now threatens you, I order you im- 
mediately to surrender yourself, with all your 
garrison, stores, etc. For if I am obliged to 
storm, you may depend on such treatment as is 
justly due to a murderer. Beware of destroying 
stores of any kind, or any papers, or letters, 
for by Heavens, if you do, there shall be no 
mercy shown you. 

G. R. Clark." 



18 THE BOYS^ BOOK OF SCOUTS 

To this letter Hamilton sent a disdainful re- 
ply, then relaxed and asked for a truce of three 
days, and at last for a parley, at which Colonel 
Clark announced (with a grand air of finality, 
we may be assured) that unconditional .surren- 
der was the only proposition he would con- 
sider. Colonel Hamilton seemed disposed to 
consider this also, and he asked for an hour 
in which to make up his mind. 

The following morning, upon Clark's promise 
to treat the garrison as prisoners of war, the 
British marched out, and once again the fort 
where the doughty Kentuckian had surprised 
the merrymakers fell into the hands of the 
Americans. 

As for the one remaining stronghold of De- 
troit, Colonel Clark had not a sufficient force 
to proceed against it, and it did not pass to 
the United States until the close of the Avar. 
It was at the council table, then, that Benjamin 
Franklin was able to win recognition of the 
Mississippi as our western boundary by point- 
ing to the two settlements of Kaskaskia and 
Vincennes which the boldness and foresight of 
the young Kentucky pioneer had taken and held 
for his country. Thus, by reason of the pos- 
session of these crucial points, the whole wide 
area of the northwest, between the Ohio and 
the Mississippi, fell to the young republic on 
the day of reckoning. And the nation's un- 



GEOEGE KOGEKS CLAEK 19 

grudging tlianks were due the brave young scout 
who, scorning wind and cold and flood, had made 
that terrible march across the prairies. 

But, sad to relate, his tardy country not only 
did not reward him, but did not even refund 
the money which he had contributed to his daring 
enterprise until many years after he was dead. 

His last years were pitiful in the extreme. 
He had never held a commission in the Federal 
service, and his commission in the Virginia 
militia was taken from him — ^not, however, until 
after he had served faithfully and bravely in 
many expeditions against the predatory bands 
of Indians which still lurked along the frontier. 

Clark had never married and his life was 
very lonesome as he grew old — a sad contrast 
to that of the average pioneer who, notwith- 
standing the roaming propensity, has usually 
been surrounded by children and grandchildren 
wherever his ultimate frontier cabin has been 
located. How different those last years in the 
life of George Eogers Clark from the declining 
days of glorious old Daniel Boone! 

Clark lived alone in a cabin in the back- 
woods, spending his time in hunting and fishing 
and at odd times entertaining his old frontier 
friends. One enemy, too, lurked in his lonely 
home — the enemy of drink, at whose dissembling 
hand he sought consolation in his disappoint- 
ment and abject poverty. 



20 THE BOYS' BOOK OP SCOUTS 

He was finally stricken with paralysis, and 
stumbled into the fire in his cabin, burning his 
leg so that it had to be amputated. He asked 
that a fife and drum be played while the tortur- 
ing operation was being performed (for the 
blessing of anesthetics was not known then), 
and he sat in a chair watching the surgeons and 
listening to the stirring music. 

At last, crippled, poor and forlorn, the broken 
old scout sought the home of his sister, where 
his last days were spent under her affectionate 
care. He died on February 13, 1818, in the 
sixty-sixth year of his age. 



DAVID CEOCKETT 

How he hunted in the wilds of Tennessee; his own story 
of how he killed a bear; how he became famous and 
was sent to Congress; and how he met a glorious death 
fighting against the Mexicans in Texas. 

If Davy Crockett had done nothing else than 
originate the motto, Be sure you're right, then 
go ahead, he would have been worthy of, at least, 
a modest place in our history; for it is a good 
motto, and if one but follows it, he is not likely 
to go astray. 

Davy himself did not always follow it, though 
he always followed a part of it; for, w^rong or 
right, he invariably went ahead; and perhaps 
the last part of the motto, in itself, is not half 
bad. 

Possibly it was the strain of Irish in Davy, 
with its accompanying propensity to blarney, 
or perhaps it was just his extraordinary valor, 
which made him a favorite among the southern 
maidens of the young republic. In any event, 
he had many friends among them, but it is to 
Davy Crockett and Betsy that we shall here 
give our particular attention. 

Betsy was his trusty rifle, a model of loyalty, 
indeed, which might stand as a worthy example 

21 



22 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

to many another Betsy. For it served him 
faithfully through life and stayed by him in 
the tragic hour of his heroic death. 

Most of the *^ stunts'' of David's life (there 
is no other name by which to call them) are 
very well known — ^Davy himself saw to that — 
and it is a pity they cannot here be narrated in 
detail. We must, perforce, let our brief ac- 
count of him center about the culminating epi- 
sode of his astonishing career with but a cursory 
glimpse of his life as a politician and hunter. 

Not to go farther back into his interesting 
ancestry than one generation, let us say that 
Crockett's father was born on the Atlantic Ocean, 
and after a restless, migratory career he settled 
with his family in the mountain country of 
Tennessee. In this wild region, in a small set- 
tlement called Limestone, David first saw the 
light, on August seventeenth, 1786. 

Accounts of his personal appearance as he 
grew to manhood differ considerably, but agree 
in one particular; namely, that he was very 
swarthy, with long, straight, jet black hair. All 
accounts agree also as to the singular quality 
of his eyes, which literally glistened with merri- 
ment and a kind of dancing recklessness. 

He must have possessed, indeed, an excep- 
tionally winning personality, with a fund of 
humor not common in those strenuous, grim 
days. Even his naive boastfulness and grandilo- 



DAVID CROCKETT 23 

qnent habit of exaggeration appear to have had 
their part in establishing an unprecedented popu- 
larity for him. Perhaps the secret of his charm 
lay in the fact that he was intensely human. 

At a very early age, almost as soon as he 
conld walk, one might say, he sought the forest. 
It taught him all he ever knew; for, notwith- 
standing that he was twice elected to the Na- 
tional Congress, his ^^book larnin' " was — or, 
rather, it wasn't. 

His early life was characterized by a refresh- 
ing spirit of independence which, at times, ran 
to the point of rebellion. He was apprenticed 
to a teamster who took him to Virginia, where 
he left his master and, alone, made an adventur- 
ous journey home through the forest. He then 
went to school, where he remained for less than 
a week. 

This was long enough, however, to permit of 
at least one good fight, in which he thoroughly 
whipped an older boy who had attempted to 
bully him. 

After this he played truant, and liked it so 
much that he resolved to make his truancy per- 
manent, and he ran away from home altogether. 
After a while he returned and finding that the 
maidens of the neighborhood jeered at him be- 
cause of his ignorance, he decided to go to 
school again. 

Completing his education, such as it was, he 



24 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

succumbed again to the lure of the woods, and 
what with farm labor, hunting, trapping, etc., 
he was able somewhat to assist his family, who 
were very poor. 

When he was twenty-three years old, having 
the appalling sum of fifteen dollars saved up, 
he resolved to marry. With his young wife he 
migrated farther west and settled in the south 
central part of Tennessee. Davy himself tells us 
that they had things ** fixed up pretty grand" 
in their backwoods home, as they must have 
had on their capital of fifteen dollars, and he 
assures us that folks can '^love just as hard 
in the backwoods as any people in the whole 
country. ' ' 

Their happiness was not long-lived, however, 
for two years later his young wife died, leaving 
the woodsman alone with his small children in 
their remote cabin. Shortly thereafter he mar- 
ried again. 

It was in this period of his life that he ac- 
quired his fame as a hunter, particularly a bear 
hunter, though, to be sure, coons also feared 
the deadly aim of Betsy, as we learn from the 
famous protest of one of them who, according 
to Davy, perceived that resistance was useless 
and politely offered to come do^^al out of the 
tree if he would refrain from shooting! 

But Davy was not only good at shooting; his 
own narrative of his hunting exploits were 



DAVID CROCKETT 25 

hardly less remarkable than the exploits them- 
selves, and we cannot do better than let him 
tell in his own inimitable way of the renowned 
*^ barking np the wrong tree'' episode, since the 
expression, like many other expressions of 
Davy's, has become proverbial. 

''That night," he says, ''there fell a heavy 
rain, and it tnrned to sleet. In the morning 
all hands turned out hunting. My young man 
and a brother-in-law who had lately settled near 
me went down the river to hunt for turkeys, but 
I was for larger game. I told them I had 
dreamed the night before of having had a hard 
fight with a big black nigger, and I know'd it 
was a sign I was to have a battle with a bear; 
for in a bear country, I never know'd such a 
dream to fail. So I started to go above the 
harricane, determined to have a bear. I had 
two pretty good dogs and an old hound, which 
I took along. I had gone about six miles up 
the river, and it Avas then about four miles 
across to the main Obion; so I determined to 
strike across to that, as I had found nothing 
yet to kill. 

"I got on to the river, and turned dovm it; 
but the sleet was still getting worse and worse. 
The bushes were all bent down and locked to- 
gether, so that it was almost impossible to get 
along. In a little time my dogs started a large 
gang of old turkey gobblers, and I killed two 



26 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

of the biggest sort. I shouldered them up, and 
moved on, until I got through the harricane 
again, when I was so tired that I laid my gob- 
blers down, to rest, as they were confounded 
heavy, and I was mighty tired. 

** While I was resting, my old hound went to a 
log and smelt it awhile, and then raised his eyes 
towards the sky and cried out. Away he went, 
and my other dogs with him, and I shouldered 
up my turkeys again, and followed on as hard 
as I could drive. The dogs were soon out of 
sight, and in a very little time I heard them 
begin to bark. When I got to them, they were 
barking up a tree, but there was no game there. 
I concluded that it had been a turkey, and that 
it had fleAV away. 

**When they saw me coming, away they went 
again, and, after a little time, began to bark 
as before. ^Yh.eIl I got near them I found they 
Avere barking up the wrong tree again, as there 
was no game there. They served in this way 
three or four times, until I was so infernal mad 
that I determined, if I could get near enough, 
to shoot the old hound at least. 

'*With this intention I pushed on the harder, 
till I came to the edge of an open prairie, and, 
looking on before my dogs, I saw in and about 
the biggest bear that ever was seen in America. 
He looked, at the distance he was from me, like 
a large black bull. My dogs were afraid to 



DAVID CROCKETT 27 

attack him, and that was the reason why they 
had stopped so often — that I might overtake 
them. They were now almost up "with him, and 
T took my gobblers from my back and hung them 
np in a sapling, and broke like a quarter horse 
after my bear, for the sight of him had put new 
springs in me. I soon got near to them, but 
they were just getting into a roaring thicket, 
and so I couldn't run through it, but had to 
pick my way along, and had close work at that. 
*^In a little while I saw the bear climbing up 
a large black oak tree, and I crawled on till I 
got within about eighty yards of him. He was 
setting with his breast to me, and so I put fresh 
priming in my gun and fired at him. At this 
he raised one of his paws and snorted loudly. 
I loaded again as quick as I could, and fired 
as near the same place in his breast as possible. 
At the crack of my gun, here he came tumbling 
doT\m; and the moment he touched the ground I 
heard one of my best dogs cry out. I took my 
tomahawk in one hand and my big butcher-knife 
in the other, and ran up within four or five 
paces of him, at which he let my dog go and 
fixed his eyes on me. I got back in all sorts 
of a hurry, for I knowed that if he got hold 
of me, he would hug me altogether too close 
for comfort. I went to my gun and hastily 
loaded her again, and shot him a third time, 
which killed him for good. 



28 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

*^I now began to think about getting him 
home, but I didn't know how far it was. So 
I left him and started ; and in order to find him 
again, I would blaze a sapling every little dis- 
tance, which would show me the way back; I 
continued this until I got within a mile of home, 
for there I knowed very well where I was, and 
that I could easily find my way back to my 
blazes. "When I got home, I took my brother- 
in-law and my young man and four horses, and 
Avent back. We got there just before dark, and 
struck up a fire and commenced butchering my 
bear. It was some time in the night before we 
finished it, and I can assert, on my honor, that 
I believe he would have weighed six hundred 
pounds. It was the second largest I ever saw. 
I killed one, a few years afterwards, that weighed 
six hundred and seventeen pounds. 

'*! now felt fully compensated for my suffer- 
ings in going after my powder; and well satis- 
fied that a dog may be doing a good business, 
even when he seems to he harking up the wrong 
tree/' 

We cannot pause to tell of Crockett's work 
as a scout under Andrew Jackson in the Creek 
War, nor of his fights with Indians and outlaws, 
to say nothing of his bear and coon killings. 

As the country became settled he became fairly 
prosperous and phenomenally popular. Twice he 
was elected to the State Legislature. Nor was 



DAVID CEOCKETT 29 

this enough ; for so universally liked was he and 
so deeply impressed were his simple friends and 
neighbors with his captivating air and his deeds 
of ''derring do'' that they sent him to the Na- 
tional Congress, where he cut an amazing figure, 
and infused a refreshing breath of humor and 
originality into the dull sessions of that august 
body. 

Having served two terms, during which he 
became quaintly famous throughout the country, 
he failed of re-election, and in the disappoint- 
ment and chagrin which followed his strenuous 
campaign he formed a resolution, the fulfillment 
of which was to lose him his life, although it 
helped to enhance his unique fame. 

**As my country no longer requires my serv- 
ices,'' he says, ^^I have made up my mind to 
go to Texas. My life has been one of danger, 
toil and privation, but these difficulties I had to 
encounter. . . . Now I start anew upon my o^vn 
hook, and God only grant that it may be strong 
enough to support the weight hung upon it. I 
have a new row to hoe, a long and rough one, 
but come what will, I'll go ahead/' 

There is a note of pathos in his own simple 
account of how he began that fateful journey. 
^*The thermometer stood below freezing as I 
left my wife and children; still there was some 
thawing about the eyelids, a thing that had not 
happened since I ran away from my father's 



30 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

home when a thoughtless, vagabond boy. I 
dressed myself in a clean hnnting-shirt, pnt on 
a new fox-skin cap with the tail hanging behind, 
and took hold of my rifle Betsy . . . and started 
off to go ahead in a new world." 

The new world in which he was to go ahead 
was the present State of Texas, and formed then 
a district of the new republic of Mexico. There 
were, however, more Americans there than Mexi- 
cans, and the territory was American in all 
except a political sense. Most of the settlers 
were men like Crockett himself — typical fron- 
tiersmen and expert hunters. They were not the 
sort of people to submit tamely to tyranny and 
oppression, and when these were imposed by 
the corrupt government of Mexico, they pro- 
tested and soon revolted. 

This miniature war of independence began in 
1835, and was pressed with such vigor by the 
resolute and hardy settlers that soon San An- 
tonio, the principal town, was taken, and every 
Mexican soldier driven back to Mexico proper. 

Near the to^wTi there stood an old mission, 
built by the Franciscan monks, which was kno^\Ti 
as the Mission del Alamo and which, under the 
simpler appellation of the Alamo is sadly fa- 
mous in our history. 

When Davy Crockett, after his long and ad- 
venturous journey, reached the Alamo, he found 
it converted into a stronghold and occupied by 



DAVID CROCKETT 31 

about one hundred and fifty Americans nnder 
a gallant young officer named Travis, and a 
certain Colonel Bowie, whose name is otherwise 
immortalized by the famous bowie-knife of which 
he was the originator. 

Crockett brought with him a dozen or so 
kindred spirits, and the little band in their fur 
caps and travel-worn buckskins was given a rous- 
ing welcome. 

It was kno^Mi that the powers in Mexico would 
not long suffer these triumphant settlers to en- 
joy the fruits of their victory. 

They did not, however, expect that Santa 
Anna himself, usurper and dictator of Mexico, 
would pay them the high honor of a personal 
call, and their surprise may be imagined when, 
on the 23d of February, 1836, this ^^ Napoleon 
of the West" appeared before the Alamo head- 
ing the advance guard of his five thousand 
trained Mexican troops, and demanded its sur- 
render. 

In answer to this the little garrison raised 
their flag, and Santa Anna hoisted his red 
ensign, w^hich meant that no quarter would be 
given to the Americans. Thus a little party of 
a hundred and seventy-odd men hurled defiance 
at an army of five thousand, notwithstanding 
that the result was inevitable. 

The siege continued for ten days, during which 
time the Mexicans were repulsed and lost heavily 



32 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

whenever they came within range of the crack 
riflemen. We may be sure that Betsy did her 
part in that brief interim. 

At last Santa Anna's main army arrived. 
Historians insist that right np to this time the 
Americans could have cut their way out and 
escaped, but apparently no such thought en- 
tered their minds. They were there to defend 
their stronghold. They must have known well 
what their fate would be; that their defence, 
however heroic, must be futile; yet they stood 
their ground, resolved to die game after making 
the enemy pay the highest price their trusty 
rifles could exact. 

At da^\Ti, on March 6th, the Americans were 
aroused by the shrill sound of a bugle. They 
knew what it meant: the Mexicans were to be 
rallied for the long-expected charge. As the 
little band listened to that attenuated martial 
call, so fateful for them, we may suppose that 
they thought also of the Mexicans' red banner, 
which meant no quarter. 

It is related that Colonel Travis addressed his 
men, repeating his resolve never to surrender, 
and offered his freedom to any man who wished 
to escape. None, so the tradition goes, left the 
Alamo. 

An hour or two of suspense and then the walls 
of the old mission shook with the mighty on- 
slaught of Santa Anna. The storming host was 



DAVID CROCKETT 33 

received with a rain of shot from the Amer- 
icans, and, as always, the well-aimed rifles did 
their work. 

But they availed little against Santa Anna's 
legion. In three columns the Mexicans ad- 
vanced, sometimes thrown into confusion by the 
withering fire from the old mission; but reserve 
after reserve filled the gaps, the storming host 
outnumbering the Americans fifteen to one. 

Now they were close under the walls, trying 
again and again to scale them. The stockade 
to the north offered a better chance, and they 
soon concentrated their efforts there, using scal- 
ing ladders in the face of a continuous and 
deadly fire from the Americans. 

Once close under the wall, they enjoyed some 
measure of shelter from the cannon, though the 
toll of death from rifle shots was still terrible; 
but the Mexicans, knowing their greatly supe- 
rior numbers, and that fresh troops were hurry- 
ing to their support, persisted. 

Colonel Travis was shot dead while loading 
a cannon. Presently the Mexicans had scaled 
the walls and were swarming into the Alamo. 
It was no time for shooting now. The Amer- 
icans clubbed their rifles and drew their swords, 
and as they were backed against the wall they 
fought, hand to hand, against the overwhelming 
force. 

Colonel Bowie lay ill in an upper room. The 



34 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

Mexicans riislied in upon liim, and as tliey en- 
tered lie shot tliem one by one from his bed, 
until he himself was despatched. 

Meanwhile Crockett fought desperately in an 
open plaza. Nothing more is known of his fate, 
though traditions are many as to exactly how 
he died. One story runs that he was still shoot- 
ing from behind a pile of men whom he had 
killed when he was overpowered and made an 
end of. 

One thing, at least, is known. His mutilated 
body was seen lying near the wall by an Amer- 
ican woman whom Santa Anna had spared. 

The battle, or rather the massacre, was soon 
over, and only five wretched prisoners remained. 
These were dragged before Santa Anna and 
butchered. Two women, several children and 
some servants were spared. 

The Mexican loss was very large — ^much larger, 
indeed, than one would have supposed possible — 
and testified eloquently to the heroic resistance 
which the little garrison had offered. 

Thus, shrouded in a kind of ghastly mystery, 
ended the unique career of Davy Crockett — a 
splendid type of scout and one of the most orig- 
inal characters that ever lived. So captivating 
was his naive heroism and so charmingly frank 
his winning nature, that innumerable legends 
cluster about his name, many of which doubtless 
have slight foundation in truth. 



DAVID CROCKETT 35 

We may be sure, however, that in that final 
bloody scene of his career, the trusted Betsy did 
not desert him, but that he used both ends of her, 
fighting desperately to the bitter end and scorn- 
ing surrender. 

It would be interesting to know exactly how 
he died. His own inimitable account of that 
last struggle would have been good reading. 
But only a few terror-stricken women and chil- 
dren were left after the frightful carnage, and 
their recollections were fragmentary and con- 
tradictory. So, in a sense, it may be said that 
there was no one left to tell the tale of one of 
the bloodiest and most unequal hand-to-hand 
encounters in our history. 

In the city of Austin, Texas, stands a monu- 
ment, commemorating the heroic death of Crock- 
ett and the other members of the little band. 
Upon it is carved this sentence: 

ThermopylcB had its messenger of defeat; 
the Alamo had none. 



SAM HOUSTON 

How he fought under Andrew Jackson; how he lived among 
the Indians; how he became a member of Congress; 
how he founded the Lone Star Kepublic and what he 
finally said of it; together with what happened to the 
Lone Star Eepublic ; and various other adventures which 
befell Sam Houston. 

Whatever people may think of Sam Houston 
(and people have thought a good many different 
things about him), one fact will be generally 
conceded: viz., that no other country than the 
young United States could possibly have pro- 
duced him, and that the United States, grown 
older, can never produce such another. 

He was not only the first president of the 
Eepublic of Texas, but its last* as well. He was, 
indeed, the father of his country in the truest 
sense, and when it ceased to be a country and 
became a state, he stood by it and was the 
father of his state. When it fell into evil ways 
and began to talk about secession, he *^ retired 
to his prairie home'^ in high disgust, planted a 
threatening cannon upon his humble cabin and 
told his rebellious child that she could **go to 
blazes. '^ 

That is the sort of man that Sam Houston 
was. 



SAM HOUSTON 37 

Everything about him was big, inelnding his 
faults. He was huge in stature, he had a tre- 
mendous voice, his ideas were stupendous, his 
heart was as big as that of an ox; and as for 
his courage, it is quite enough to say that An- 
drew Jackson was amazed at it. What if he 
did appear before the United States Secretary 
of War brandishing a tomahawk and dressed 
in the garb of a Cherokee Indian, to the Secre- 
tary's great consternation and annoyance? Sam 
Houston was a law unto himself, and so we must 
consider him. 

Should you like to know how he looked on no 
less an occasion than his own inauguration as 
Governor ? 

**A tall, bell-crowned, medium-brimmed, shin- 
ing black beaver hat, shining black military 
stock or cravat encased by a standing collar, 
ruffled shirt, satin vest, shining black silk pants 
gathered to the waistband with legs full, same 
size from seat to ankle, and a gorgeous red- 
ground, many-colored go-svn or Indian hunting- 
shirt, fastened at the waist by a huge red sash 
covered with fancy bead w^ork, with an immense 
silver buckle, embroidered silk stockings and 
pumps with large silver buckles.'' 
Truly an imposing figure! 
But for all that he was not proud, for even 
after he became a general he was in the habit 
of beating the drum himself, believing that he 



38 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

could do it better than anyone else. There was 
only one drum in his army. 

Sam Houston was born at Timber Eidge 
Church, in Rockbridge County, Virginia, on the 
2d of March, 1793. He was of Scotch-Irish 
ancestry. His father had fought in the War 
of Independence, and when he died Sam's 
mother, who was a typical pioneer woman, took 
her children westward into Tennessee, where 
they lived in the wilds, in close proximity to 
the Cherokee Indians— that once warlike tribe 
whose power had been broken by young Francis 
Marion and others. 

Young Sam was rather more inclined to study 
than the average young frontiersman, and while 
yet a boy his habit of reading every book he 
could lay his hands on gave him much knowledge 
which was useful in his political career years 
afterward. 

Indeed, his love of study, so the story goes, 
was the very thing which led him into a world 
of adventure, for on being forbidden by his 
unsympathetic elder brothers to study Latin, he 
forthwith pocketed his volume of Pope's Iliad 
and sallied forth to a neighboring village of 
friendly Cherokees, among whom he made his 
home. The Cherokee chief liked him so much 
that he adopted him and young Sam continued 
to lead a wild life among the Indians until he 
was nineteen years old. 




SAM HOUSTON 



I 



SAM HOUSTON 39 

He was always thereafter more or less identi- 
fied with the Cherokees, returning to them from 
time to time and finding balm and solace in their 
savage life. Later he took a wife from among 
them. 

In 1811 he returned to civilization and started 
a small school where he must have greatly edi- 
iied his pnpils by the Indian shirt and long 
pigtail which he wore. 

In 1813 he joined the army and was shortly 
promoted to the rank of ensign. At that time 
the redoubtable Andrew Jackson had set out to 
crush, once and for all, the warlike Creek Indians 
who, under their famous chief, Tecumseh, were 
making a last stand against the whites in the 
wilds of Alabama. 

In this campaign young Houston distinguished 
himself in such a manner that *^01d Hickory" 
never forgot it, and when he became President 
he supported with enthusiasm the schemes of his 
whilom ensign. 

It was at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend that 
Sam Houston, then not twenty years of age, 
showed his mettle. 

Wounded and bleeding profusely, he was or- 
dered to the rear by General Jackson. The 
General was not, either in his military or politi- 
cal career, a very safe man to disobey, but Sam 
Houston was out for glory and he was not to 
be deterred by either a wound or an order. 



40 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

Sam's regiment had been ordered to storm the 
breastworks which the Creek Indians had erected 
and disregarding his superior's command he had 
rushed forward with the other men. He was 
just scaling the rough parapet when a barbed 
arrow struck him in the thigh. Heedless of the 
frightful agony he had tried to extract the cruel 
barb, but could not do so. 

He waited until his comrades were near and 
ordered one of them to pull out the arrow. Twice 
the man tried and failed, causing him unspeak- 
able torture. 

**Try again," cried Houston, ^^and if you fail 
this time I will smite you to the earth." 

With main strength the soldier wrenched at 
the arrow, tearing it out and leaving a great 
bleeding gash. 

^* Thank you, you are a brave fellow," said 
Sam Houston. 

It was then that General Jackson ordered him 
to the rear. Young Houston pled with him in 
vain; as soon as the General's back was turned 
he was in the thick of the assault again, storming 
the breastworks at the head of his men. 

There soon followed a bloody hand-to-hand 
combat, in which many Indians were killed. It 
was a complete defeat for them, but there still 
lurked in a ravine near by, which was covered 
by the breastworks, a large body of Creek war- 
riors, so stationed and protected that they could 



SAM HOUSTON 41 

mth small danger to themselves maintain a con- 
tinual fire npon Jackson's men. Their vantage 
ground was such that artillery could not be used 
against them, and Jackson called for volunteers 
to make a charge. 

There was no response from either officers or 
men until Sam Houston, springing forward de- 
spite his cruel wound, ordered his platoon to 
follow him. His brave act is graphically de- 
scribed by his friend and editor, C. Edwards 
Lester : 

^^ There was but one way of attack that could 
prevail— it was to charge through the port-holes 
although they were bristling with rifles and 
arrows, and it had to be done by a rapid, simul- 
taneous plunge. As he was stopping to rally 
his men and had levelled his musket within five 
yards of the port-holes, he received two rifle 
balls in his right shoulder, and his arm fell 
shattered to his side. Totally disabled, he turned 
and called once more to his men, and implored 
them to make the charge. But they could not 
advance. Houston stood in his blood till he saw 
it would do no good to stand any longer and 
then went beyond the range of the bullets and 
sank down exhausted to the earth.'' 

Sam Houston had learned at least one thing 

from the stoical Indians— to suffer and be strong. 

He was many months in recovering and when 

he did recover he found that Old Hickory had 



42 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

forgotten liis disobedience and remembered only 
his bravery. That was qnite like Old Hickory. 

With the help of Jackson's great influence, 
Sam Houston, still a very yonng man, became 
one of the leading figures in Tennessee. Before 
he was thirty-five, he was elected Governor of 
the State and it seemed that Fortune was to 
smile permanently upon him when suddenly, 
during his campaign for re-election, he dropped 
his canvass, left his home and his young bride 
of six weeks, and went back to resume his wild 
life among the Cherokee Indians. 

No one knows why he did this extraordinary 
thing. He was good enough to say that the 
young lady was in no way to blame, although 
there have been historians who appeared to think 
that they knew more about it than Sam himself 
did. 

It had been said that he was stung by the lies 
of his enemies, but surely the hero of Horseshoe 
Bend who could calmly watch while a jagged 
arrow was torn out of his flesh, ought to have 
been able to bear the barbed arrows of slander 
in a political campaign. In any event, if a man 
wishes to repudiate his bride of six weeks to 
go and live with the Indians, he should have 
a very much better excuse than this; and the 
best comment to make is just that Sam Houston 
was a puzzle. 

The life which he led among the Cherokees 



SAM HOUSTON 43 

was romantic and adventurous, but not alto- 
gether creditable. He followed the trails with 
them, hunted with them, and, it is to be feared, 
drank with them, for they called him Big Drunk, 
which is not a complimentary name for the sol- 
dier and patriot who founded the Texan Eepublic. 

For one year he led this wild, reckless life, 
then he came forth as one risen from the dead 
and returned to civilization. Clad in a most 
outlandish garb he made his way to "Washington 
and to the "Wliite House where he knew he might 
be sure of a friendly welcome. Andrew Jackson 
received him with open arms. 

At that time Texas was a province of Mexico. 
For some time the Mexican Government had 
encouraged foreign settlement within this large 
domain and it was now beginning to realize the 
unwisdom of such a course, for there were more 
Americans there than Mexicans and they were 
not at all agreeable to the despotic form of 
government favored by the cruel Santa Anna, 
President of the Mexican republic, who was in 
reality a dictator. 

In 1829 President Jackson had offered to buy 
Texas, and although Mexico had indignantly 
refused the proposal, it had nevertheless aroused 
her to the realization that her province of Texas 
was rather more friendly to the United States 
than to herself. 

It was, indeed, too late for the Mexican Gov- 



44 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

ernment to stem the tide and there was no 
sleight-of-hand by which Texas could be conjured 
into a loyal province with Mexican sympathies. 
But Santa Anna tried the impossible, by impos- 
ing tyrannical laws and unreasonable restrictions 
and the natural consequence was a vigorous re- 
volt of the hardy settlers. 

The story of Davy Crockett tells of the cruel 
methods of Santa Anna in trying to stamp out 
the spirit of freedom. The massacre at the 
sadly famous Alamo was only one of his vile 
deeds. 

It was to this scene of disorder that Sam 
Houston now betook himself. It is said that he 
went at the instigation of President Jackson, who 
wished for nothing better than a successful revo- 
lution which Avould bring the -troubled and tur- 
bulent Texas headlong into the Union. 

Be that as it may, Houston went and scarcely 
had he reached the scene when he became the 
hero of the occasion. This was in December, 
1832. 

"We cannot pause to narrate in detail the story 
of the revolution of the American settlers in 
Texas. For a while things went against them, 
as the ghastly death of Crockett and his com- 
rades in the Alamo testifies. And w^hen Santa 
Anna had glutted himself with a still more in- 
human massacre at Goliad he believed that the 
Americans had been thoroughly cowed and 
punished. 



SAM HOUSTON 45 

That is where lie made the mistake of his life, 
for encamped on the Colorado Eiver was a small 
body of less than one thousand frontiersmen^ m 
command of an American scont and Indian 
£gliter— the giant, Sam Houston. 

There is no space in which to follow the cam- 
paign that ensued. The Americans were out- 
numbered many times. Moreover, they were but 
a band of undrilled frontiersmen with no bayo- 
nets and no artillery— nothing but their rifles 
and bowie knives. They had no camping outfits 
and there was but one drum among them. 

Against this hapless band was the well-drilled 
and triumphant legion of Santa Anna. 
A David and Goliath contest indeed! 
Yet the tact and skill and courage of the old 
trailer prevailed. After a campaign of forced 
marches and of hide-and-seek tactics, which must 
have astonished the haughty Santa Anna, he was 
actually taken prisoner by the rough old scout 
whom he had disdained. On April 21, 1836, 
two months after the murder of Crockett and 
his brave companions, was fought the Battle of 
San Jacinto where Sam Houston and eight hun- 
dred Texans utterly routed the Mexican army 
and put an end .to Santa Anna's cruelties forever. 
The battle cry on that momentous occasion 
was ^^Kemember the Alamo!'' And who shall 
say that the spirit of Davy Crockett was not 
present to witness this triumph of as good a 



46 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

scout and fighter as himself as he exacted retri- 
bution for the massacre in the old Mission? 

Whatever people may have thought of Sam 
Houston's peculiarities and however much his 
friends may have deplored his faults, he was 
now acclaimed a hero. The whilom Big Drunk 
had freed Texas and captured the tyrant and 
no honor was too great for him. 

The long-troubled province now became a 
republic and its liberator was elected as its 
president. 

Houston was quite willing that his little re- 
public should become a part of the United States, 
but the United States now would have none 
of this, for the distant rumblings of the great 
slavery agitation Avere already to be heard in 
the land and Uncle Sam doubtless felt that there 
were quite enough slave states already. 

In 1845, however, with the full concurrence of 
the Texan people, the Lone Star Eepublic be- 
came the State of Texas, and Sam Houston was 
sent to Washington as Senator. He wore a 
many-colored Mexican blanket and was wont to 
whittle shingles with his bowie knife while listen- 
ing to congressional debates. Whenever the 
rights of the Indians came in ciuestion, however, 
he would lay aside his handiwork and let his 
thunderous voice rise in their defense — in grate- 
ful memory, perhaps, of his old life among the 
hospitable Cherokee^. 



SAM HOUSTON 47 

We cannot follow his political career. The 
eve of the Civil AVar found him governor of his 
beloved state. Old in years, but still vigorous 
and affecting still his motley garb, he shook 
his old clenched fist at those who talked of 
secession. 

His attitude made him very unpopular. He 
refused to take the Confederacy's oath of alle- 
giance and was ousted from office. In that 
exciting time it was the rule in the Confederacy 
that all men over sixteen must register and 
carry a pass when traveling. Sam Houston 
refused to do either. When his pass was de- 
manded of him, he thundered, **San Jacinto is 
my pass through Texas!'' They let him pass. 

After his deposition from office he retired to 
his home (of which he had seen but little, to 
be sure) at Huntsville, Texas. Here he was 
fond of wearing his old San Jacinto uniform. 

Though he had opposed secession, his staunch 
old spirit rebelled at the thought of his beloved 
state invaded by Federal troops, and he raised 
his 'crutch in the air and shook it triumphantly 
when the Union army was driven from her soil. 
He had done all he could to prevent secession, 
but the die being cast his allegiance was with 
the cause of the South. 

He lived to the age of seventy, when his old 
wounds began to trouble him and he became 
crippled and very feeble. He died in his Hunts- 



48 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

ville home, on the 26th of July, 1863, three 
weeks after General Grant had taken Vicksburg. 
His last words were ** Texas! Texas!" and 
*' Margaret!" 

Margaret was his third wife. Perhaps as he 
uttered her name he thought of that bride of 
long ago whom he had repudiated; and perhaps 
as he uttered the words *^ Texas — Texas!" he 
thought of the ungrateful state which had re- 
pudiated him. 

Sam Houston was a strange combination — a 
man remarkable in many ways. Like Daniel 
Boone, he loved the forest and its wild life for 
their own sake, though not enough to give him- 
self up to them as did the great Kentucky 
pioneer. The world knows him chiefly as an 
odd character, a brave soldier, and a statesman 
of no mean attainments. But in the intervals 
of his military and political career, he was 
wont to seek the forest and become a back- 
woodsman. 

In the period between his two incumbencies 
as governor of Texas, and after his fame was 
fully established, he built himself a log cabin 
in the wilderness and lived a life of primitive 
simplicity and wildness. He was an expert 
tracker, a crack shot, a superb horseman; and 
no man, unless it was John Eliot of old, ever 
became so thoroughly familiar as he with Indian 
life. He understood not only their language, but 



SAM HOUSTON 49 

their thouglits and their feelings; and they evi- 
dently understood him, which is more than can 
be said of some of his white brethren. 

It is to be regretted that his life as a woods- 
man and scont shonld have to take a subordinate 
place in his career. Bnt perhaps this is in- 
evitable. If Daniel Boone had been elected 
Governor of Kentucky, and had been sent to 
Washington as Senator, we shonld doubtless 
lose much of the wonderful romance which clings 
like a vine about his beloved name. 



KIT CAESON 

How lie first hit the Old Trail; how he performed a surgical 
operation; how he hunted and fought the Indians; how 
he acted as peacemaker; together with sundry feats and 
adventures of this famous plainsman. 

A GOOD scout was Kit Carson, who was con- 
siderate enough to adventnre-loving youth not 
to run for office and waste the precious years 
in Congress which he might spend out hunting 
and tracking Indians. 

He was a scout, a whole scout, and nothing 
but a scout — first, last, and always. 

His proper name was Christopher, but he 
hardly recognized it himself and history and 
story do not recognize it at all. He did so 
many things that the mere record of his birth 
and death seem prosy enough, but it may as well 
be recorded that he was born in Madison County, 
Kentucky, on Christmas Day, in 1809. 

His early years were spent on the Old Santa 
Fe Trail. From 1829 to 1838 he was a trapper 
in the Eocky Mountains, during which time he 
married an Indian girl. His second marriage, 
to a Spanish maiden, occurred in 1843. From 

60 




Century Co 



CHRISTOPHER (KIT) CARSON 
From a photograph taken about 1863 



i 

I 



KIT CARSON 51 

1838 to 1842 lie was hunter and captain of 
trappers for Bent's Fort, a hunting headquar- 
ters and trading-post along the Arkansas. He 
accompanied Fremont as a gnide and himter 
on the famons exploring expedition of 184344 
to the Great Salt Lake and California, return- 
ing by the Old Trail and through the Eocky 
Mountains. He was with Fremont on his sub- 
sequent expedition into California, and was 
scout under him in the conquest of that terri- 
tory in 1846. He served as a transcontinental 
express messenger in 1847-48, and in the latter 
year acted as a ranger in the outposts of Cali- 
fornia. In 1850 he served as an army scout 
in expeditions against the Indians. In 1853 he 
became a gentle shepherd and drove 30,000 sheep 
overland to California. He became a colonel 
in the army and served in innumerable battles 
with the red men. At odd times in his varied 
career he was a ranchman, a military commis- 
sioner, a guide, trapper, hunter, trail detective 
and, indeed, he served in about every capacity 
and occupied every post incidental to the old 
caravan days and frontier life. Yet he was not 
sixty years old when he died. 

Carson was rather below the average stature, 
and appears to have been of the wiry type and 
rather delicate looking. His nature was very 
simple and lovable. He was modest and un- 
assertive, and averse to telling of his own deeds. 



52 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

It goes without saying that his bravery was 
conspicuous, and he showed a superb coolness 
in the face of danger. 

In 1868, during a visit to his son at Fort 
Lyon, in Colorado, he was stricken with apo- 
plexy while riding his horse, a recreation which 
he continued to enjoy even after ill health had 
compelled him to give up active life. His death 
was almost instantaneous. This occurred on 
May 23d. 

His remains were later taken to his old home 
in New Mexico, where a monument was erected 
over them. 

It would be quite futile to attempt a con- 
secutive brief narrative of Kit Carson's adven- 
tures. They seem to be piled up all about, and 
the best one can hope to accomplish is to select 
certain conspicuous instances of his prowess and 
present them by way of amplifying the fore- 
going capitulation. 

While Kit was still very young, his parents 
emigrated to the frontier region of Missouri, 
where the boy was apprenticed to a harness- 
maker, a singularly prosaic calling for so ro- 
mantic a youth, and he did not follow it long. 

The Carson home, w^hich was hardly more 
than a frontier cabin, was in Howard County, 
and the great, tortuous Missouri Kiver flowed 
near by. 

Not so far to the west of Kit's lonely home 



KIT CARSON 53 

the river flowed near to the eastern end of the 
Old Santa Fe Trail, which ran from eastern 
Kansas to Santa Fe, and was the highw of 
caravans of pack mules and later of great luin- 
hering prairie wagons, the Inrkmg Pjaee of 
Comanches and Apaches and Mexican bandits, 
the haunt of trapper and scout. 

It was a romantic and historic trail, the scene 
of many desperate deeds, and abounding m a 
variety of scenic grandeur. 

We may be sure that young Kit often saw 
the bands of traders and immigrants passmg 
up the river on their way to the Old Trail, and 
that the sight of these bold adventurers filled 
him with longing to follow them to the_ ancient 
highway which crossed the vast plains and 
wound its tortuous way among the rocky fast- 
nesses farther west and so to the quaint old 

Mexican city. 

Once, when Kit was scarcely seventeen, a 
party of traders passed near his home, and he 
begged that he might be allowed to accompany 

'^f what use would you be to us?" one of 
the traders asked. 

"I can shoot," said Kit. 

"Well, then, let us see you shoot, said the 

trader. . , ,, 

Kit gave a specimen of his shooting and they 
forthwith not only consented to let him go, but 



54 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

implored his parents to consent. Shooting like 
his was needed along the Old Santa Fe Trail. 

So yonng Kit joined the caravan, and that 
was the beginning of his career of adventure. 

His first notable feat, however, was not one 
of shooting, but rather of surgery, although w^e 
have neglected to mention his surgical skill, to 
say nothing of the novelty of his methods. 

The party had not proceeded far when one 
of the teamsters, through carelessness, shot 
himself with his rifle, crushing the bone of his 
arm, and after a few days the wound gave signs 
of blood poisoning. 

It was decided that only by amputating the 
arm could his life be saved, but there were no 
physicians in the party, and no one seemed 
disposed to perform the operation until young 
Kit Carson stepped forward and offered to *^do 
the job." 

He admitted that he had no experience in 
such matters, and that his only tools were a 
razor, a saw, and the king-bolt of a wagon. 

The unhappy teamster, with the alternative 
of certain death confronting him, consented, 
and Kit performed the operation, cutting with 
the razor, sawing through the bone and searing 
the wound with the white hot bolt. The opera- 
tion was a complete success and the one-armed 
teamster was the companion of Kit Carson on 
many an adventure in the years to follow. 



KIT CARSON 55 

While Kit was hunter at Bent's Fort his repu- 
tation as a crack shot spread through the whole 
AVest. His was the task, and often a hard one, 
of keeping forty mouths supplied with food. 
He came to be known as the '^Nestor of the 
Rocky Mountains/' 

Some of the legends which cluster about this 
period of his career have a little flavor of the 
Arabian Nights, but undoubtedly there is a 
basis of truth in most of them. 

On one occasion he is said to have hung from 
a tree with one arm and so manipulated his 
gun with the other as to shoot two grizzlies! 

With this redoubtable hunter of the Rockies, 
shooting buffaloes on the plains was mere child's 
play. It is said that he could often maneuver 
his quarry into such a position as to shoot and 
kill two with one shot. 

The powerful Utes of the mountains knew him 
well, as did also the tribes of the plains, and 
when they were peaceable he was their friend. 

On one occasion the warlike Sioux had tres- 
passed upon the hunting-ground of the plains 
Indians, as a consequence of which there was 
much bloody fighting along the Old Trail. The 
plains Indians, who were getting much the worst 
of it, finally in desperation asked their trusted 
friend, Kit Carson, to help them. 

Instead of leading them forth to battle, as 
they had supposed he would do, he went himself 



56 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

to the Sioux, who indeed were in anything but 
a conciliatory mood, to act as mediator. It was 
a bold move, which none but Kit Carson would 
have attempted. The Sioux were confounded at 
sight of him, and it is a tribute to his prowess 
and an evidence of the magic of his name that 
this warlike tribe agreed to withdraw from the 
plains and cease their encroachments. 

At one time in his career, shortly after he had 
returned from one of the adventurous expedi- 
tions with Fremxont, he settled (if such a crea- 
ture could be said ever to settle) on a ranch in 
New Mexico, and scarcely had he taken up his 
abode there when the ferocious Apaches made 
one of their murderous raids through the dis- 
trict, leaving woe and destruction everywhere. 
A man by the name of White, living near Santa 
Fe, was massacred, along with his son, and the 
women and children of his household were car- 
ried off into the mountain fastnesses. 

Horror and consternation reigned in the coun- 
tryside after this bloody deed, and all looked 
to Kit Carson for help. Wrathful and terror- 
stricken though they were, they would do noth- 
ing until he arrived. 

When he came a party was organized which 
took the trail, riding day and night in the hope 
of overtaking the savages. At last, after a 
weary pursuit, they came upon the Indians in 
a rocky fastness of the mountains, and Carson 



KIT CARSON 57 

dashed in, supposing, of course, that his men 
wonld follow him. 

But, instead of following him, they stood 
gaping in amazement at the reckless bravery 
of their leader. Not realizing that he was alone, 
Carson rode on, and did not discover his plight 
until he was in the Indian stronghold. 

It was only his wonderful coolness and pres- 
ence of mind that saved him. As the Indians 
made for him, he dropped to the off side of 
his horse with such dexterity that they hardly 
saw him, and dashed back to where his party 
was waiting. Six arrows in his horse and one 
in his own coat testified to the narrowness of 
his escape. 

We may imagine with what righteous wrath 
the fearless scout addressed his cowardly com- 
panions. **Why did you send for meT^ he de- 
manded. His withering scorn had the effect of 
rallying tliem, and they charged against the 
Indians, who fled pell-mell, without offering the 
slightest resistance. They knew Kit Carson. 
Five of their number were killed. But the party 
had arrived too late to rescue the white captives, 
whose dead bodies were foimd in the forsaken 
camp. 

At that time the Comanche Indians were at 
war with the whites, as, indeed, they were a 
great deal of the time in those early days. 

On one occasion Kit Carson was conducting a 



58 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

company of soldiers through the Comanche coun- 
try. Beaching a spot along the Old Trail known 
as Point of Kocks, they fell in with a company 
of young men who had volunteered for the Mex- 
ican War, and the two parties camped in close 
proximity. 

In the morning, as the horses of the volun- 
teers were being led to pasture, a band of In- 
dians captured every animal, and their herders, 
in a panic, rushed into Carson's camp. 

It was a good place to rush to. Summoning 
his men, Carson sallied forth, and after a brisk 
light with the astonished savages, he recaptured 
most of the animals for their owners. When 
he learned that the theft had been made possible 
by a careless guard, who had fallen asleep, he 
immediately insisted that the culprit should suf- 
fer the punishment customary along the Old 
Trail, which was to wear the dress of an Indian 
squaw for one day. 

Carson then proceeded with his company to 
Santa Fe, where he parted with them, having 
successfully acted as their guide through a wild 
and hostile country. 

One night, as he was lolling about in the mar- 
ket-place of the old Mexican city, he heard some 
talk about two wealthy traders who had lately 
hit the Old Trail for the states, and he listened 
with keen attention as the conversation turned 
upon the doubtful character of their guides. 



KIT CAESON 59 

It was suspected that these were none other 
than a band of notorious robbers, and from the 
forebodings which he heard expressed Kit felt 
certain that the unsuspecting travelers were in 
grave danger of their lives. 

In less than an hour he was at the head of 
a few picked men, hurrying through a short-cut 
in the mountains. He had to look out for 
hostile Indians here, but he knew their haunts 
and habits and was not easily surprised. 

On the second day the party fell in with a 
company of United States troops, on their way 
to New Mexico, who offered to join them. Their 
offer was accepted and presently the party 
reached the Trail and came in sight of the 
caravan lumbering along some distance ahead. 
Eiding forward. Kit Carson made straight for 
the chief guide, a desperado whom he knew 
named Fox, and clapped a pair of handcuffs 
upon him. It presently appeared that this man 
was accompanied by about thirty conspirators 
masquerading as a convoy. 

Carson's shrewdness and long experience of 
the Trail enabled him promptly to single out 
Fox's men, and these were rounded up and driven 
from the camp. Their leader, against whom the 
evidence of criminal intent was conclusive, was 
taken back to Santa Fe, where he had an oppor- 
tunity to meditate in jail on the lightning-like 
and decisive methods of his captor. 



60 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

When the caravan returned from St. Louis, 
the grateful traders brought a pair of handsome 
silver-mounted pistols to Kit Carson in acknowl- 
edgment of his brave and generous act. 

In those days it often happened that trouble 
occurred through the mistaken zeal of United 
States troops, in dealing with the Indians. Car- 
son had often said that much bloodshed might 
be spared if the army officers would but study 
the red men, endeavor to get their point of view, 
and, when possible, negotiate with them. 

He, of all scouts, stands forever as the shining 
example of intelligent and kindly firmness in 
dealing with the Indians. He never fought them 
wantonly, nor to make a show of power in order 
to intimidate them. The many instances of his 
successful negotiation with them remind one of 
the gentle William Penn. He had small sym- 
pathy with the employment of the *^ leaden argu- 
ment'' until other arguments had failed. Then 
his leaden argument went straight to the mark. 
The Indians knew this, and they respected him 
and trusted him. 

At one time, as he was returning along the 
Old Trail from a visit to St. Louis, he learned 
of a rash act committed by a United States 
officer in command of a small body of troops 
in the vicinity. The officer had administered a 
thrashing to an Indian chief. 

Now, if you thrash an Indian chief, it may 



KIT CAESON 61 

safely be averred that you will hurt at least 
his feelings, if you hurt nothing else, and the 
humiliated potentate's faithful subjects were 
burning with shame and rage at this ignoble 
treatment of their sovereign lord. 

It befell that Kit Carson rode with a small 
caravan through the country of this tribe just 
as their anger was at its height, and it was a 
bold and reckless act to venture into that pre- 
cinct of wrathful mortification following hard 
upon the royal flogging. 

Carson was the first white man to face this 
blackening cloud of fury, but he rode on ahead 
of the company, and, with characteristic un- 
concern, galloped straight into a council of war 
then being held by the Indians who, of course, 
knew of the approach of the party. 

They knew who he was and, believing that he 
could not understand their language, they al- 
lowed him to sit among them while they pro- 
ceeded with their pow-wow. When the flow of 
belligerent eloquence had ceased, Kit rose from 
Ms seat and, to their dismay, addressed them 
in their o^vn tongue. 

He told them that he had listened with great 
attention to their warlike plans, particularly to 
the interesting plot to scalp his whole party. 
He politely intimated that it would not be wise 
to attempt this, and that it would be an alto- 



62 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

gether inappropriate reprisal for the chastise- 
ment of their chief. 

Utterly confounded by his audacity and per- 
fect familiarity with their language, the Indians 
indulged the sober second thought and said that 
they would visit their revenge upon the proper 
victim — if they ever caught him. 

But Kit's audacious bravery did not run to 
the point of heedlessness, and he and his little 
party kept a weather eye open for trouble as 
they proceeded on their way. He soon perceived 
that Indians were still lurking near them. 

It is said that of the fifteen men who accom- 
panied him, only two were of a sort to be of 
any assistance in a fight, and that he knew this. 

When the little party camped for the night 
the wagons were formed into a circle, with the 
men and animals inside. When all was quiet 
Kit crept out, taking with him a small Mexican 
boy on whom he knew he could rely and to whom 
he explained that they were surrounded by red 
men ; that an attack might be made at any time, 
and that their only hope lay in communicating 
at once with the troops at Kayedo, a distance 
of more than two hundred miles. 

The little fellow, who was a sort of Man Fri- 
day to the famous scout, mounted his horse and 
hurried off along the lonely trail to summon 
help. 

The story of that ride would be a thrilling tale 



KIT CAESON 63 

in itself. After a time the boy came up with 
the soldiers whose commander had caused so 
much needless trouble, and, astonishing though 
it may seem, this hero refused to turn about 
and go to the aid of the threatened caravan. 
His specialty was evidently flogging, not fighting. 

Eeaching Eayedo, the boy announced his er- 
rand to Major Grier, the commander of the post, 
and soon a detachment was on its way to meet 
Carson and his party. The red men were prop- 
erly sobered by the sight of the soldiers passing 
along the Old Trail, and the meeting with the 
Carson party was effected without accident. 

But there had been slow hours of anxious 
waiting for Kit Carson. Upon him, and him 
alone, had fallen the burden of responsibility 
for the party's safety, and he had watched every 
movement of the lurking Indians with keen 
apprehension. 

On the morning after the Mexican boy had 
ridden forth, five Indians visited the slow-moving 
caravan. What their purpose was Kit did not 
pause to inquire. He knew when to be high- 
handed, and in the present predicament this was 
the only card he could play. 

Eefusing to listen to their errand, he ordered 
the Indians from his presence, telling them that 
troops had been sent for, "who would presently 
arrive and wreak vengeance for any harm the 
caravan might suffer. He drew his pistols and, 



64 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

repeating his order that they depart, threatened 
to shoot dead the first to turn about. They 
stood not upon the order of their going, and 
were wise enough not to follow the disastrous 
example of Lot's wife. 

Three years before Carson died there was a 
veritable epidemic of Indian outbreaks along the 
Old Trail. Marauding bands of Kiowas, Co- 
manches and Cheyennes lurked on the historic 
highway and hid in the mountains near its 
western end. They preyed upon the rich traders 
and vented their smouldering anger against the 
civilization which they saw encroaching upon 
their immemorial domain. 

At last the depredations became so frequent 
and numerous and the peril to travelers so 
great that the government appointed Kit Car- 
son to lead three companies of soldiers against 
these murderous and thieving tribes. 

"With characteristic energy and ingenuity, 
Carson soon cleared the Trail of these lurking 
savages, pursuing them to their mountain strong- 
holds and over trackless plains and administer- 
ing a salutary punishment which broke their 
spirit for many months to come. 

One more episode of Carson's varied career 
and then we must leave him. He often told of 
it himself as the one occasion on which the 
Indians succeeded in fooling him. 

After a long day of hunting buffalo he and 



KIT CARSON 65 

his several companions had camped for the night. 
Their dogs made a good deal of noise, and on 
investigating the cause Carson discovered two 
large wolves lurking near the camp. We shall 
let him tell the rest in his own vs^ords as re- 
ported by a lifelong comrade. 

*^I saw two big wolves sneaking about, one 
of them quite close to us. Gordon, one of my 
men, wanted to fire his rifle at it, but I did not 
let him for fear he would hit a dog. I admit 
that I had a sort of an idea that those wolves 
might be Indians, but when I noticed one of 
them turn short around, and heard the clashing 
of his teeth as he rushed at one of the dogs, I 
felt easy then. . . . But the red devil fooled 
me after all, for he had two dried buffalo bones 
in his hands under the wolf skin, and he rattled 
them together every time he turned to make a 
dash at the dogs! 

''Well, by and by we all dozed off, and it 
wasn't long before I was suddenly aroused by 
a noise and a big blaze. I rushed out the first 
thing for our mules and held them. If the 
savages had been at all smart they could have 
killed us in a trice, but they ran as soon as they 
fired at us.'' 

It is gratifying to know that though these 
masquerading Indians succeeded in fooling him, 
they w^ere not altogether triumphant, for ''when 
they endeavored to ambush us the next morn- 



66 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

ing," he adds, *'we got wind of their little game 
and killed three of them, including the chief." 

It is with regret that we part with this fasci- 
nating man. But delving among his adventures 
is like sounding the dead sea; one never touches 
bottom. His life was a collection of courageous 
feats, hair's-breadth escapes, and deeds of such 
naive audacity that in foreign literature he has 
come perilously near to getting himself into the 
mythical fraternity with such notables as Santa 
Glaus, Jack Frost, Father Time and others. We 
have seen a reference to him in a Scotch book 
as one ** reputed to have lived in America." 

But Kit Carson was very real, as many a 
bloodthirsty savage and trail bandit in the good 
old days could have testified. 

Perhaps, after all, the best thing that can be 
said of him — ^better even and more memorable 
than the tale of his adventures — is that though 
he lived for nearly sixty years among the most 
desperate characters of frontier life, and amid 
scenes of lawlessness, his own character re- 
mained untarnished. 

What chances were his for personal gain at 
the sacrifice of honesty and honor, and what 
temptations must have beset him had his mind 
been sordid and his heart weak. But with his 
grim courage, and amid the bloody work which 
he must needs do, there came no taint of weak- 
ness or dishonor. 



KIT CARSON 67 

He respected right and justice where there 
were few laws, and those difficult of enforce- 
ment. 

The very name of Kit Carson spelled safety 
and protection to immigrant and trader, and 
how must their hearts have thrilled with joy 
and relief to see his horse come dashing along 
the Old Trail which he knew and loved so well, 
and to realize that he was indeed the kindly 
light to lead them in that desert wilderness! 



XJNCLE DICK WOOTON 

How lie hit the trail for Bent's Fort in the Eockies; how 
he killed an innocent mnle by mistake; how he killed 
a number of Indians on purpose; how he hunted and 
trapped and traded; and how he lived near his mountain 
road high up in the Raton Range. 

We shall include in this Book of Sconts Old 
Uncle Dick Woo ton, the savory smack of whose 
name would seem to promise good things in the 
way of adventure. Moreover, he was a friend 
of Kit Carson's, and any friend of Kit Carson's 
should be doubly welcome in this company. 

Uncle Dick was born in Virginia in the early 
80 's, and was still a very young child Avhen his 
parents settled in Kentucky, where the elder 
Wooton cultivated a tobacco plantation. 

Young Dick did not take to tobacco, at least 
not in the sense of raising it. But he Avas 
inordinately fond of adventure. While he was 
still a boy he left home, resolved to visit the 
famous frontier toAvn of Independence which 
was at the western extremity of Missouri. 

The journey across that wild, sparsely set- 
tled country must have been difficult and peril- 
ous enough, and it is not easy to understand 

68 



UNCLE DICK WOOTON 69 

the incentive to siich a journey unless we know 
something of that flourishing frontier community, 
of which Dick must have heard much in his 
childhood. 

Nor is it easy to recognize in the present 
quiet suburb of Kansas City the once flourishing 
terminus of the Old Santa Fe Trail. But in 
those days Independence was a bee-hive of com- 
mercial activity, and its frontier forges with 
pack mules waiting to be shod, its ^^yoke-shops'' 
where yokes for oxen were made and sold by 
the thousand, and the long trains of laden mules 
and lumbering prairie wagons arriving out of 
the mysterious southwest and departing again 
upon their long journeys, must have constituted 
a romantic lure to the youth of Missouri and 
Kentucky to whom the faraway Mexican city 
of Santa Fe and the long trail which led to it 
were the subject of many enticing tales told by 
overland travelers. 

The history of that time shows us many a 
youth fallen under the spell of the old highway 
and the quaint old mart of commerce at its 
western end. The market-place and the corrals 
of old Independence were a veritable Mecca for 
adventure-loving youths, many of whom had 
run away from home to see these things and 
were destined to wander still farther before they 
returned to the parental fireside. 

Young Dick Wooton was one of these, and we 



70 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

can imagine Mm gaping at the doorway of Hiram 
Yonng's wagon shop, feasting his eyes upon the 
life which he had come many miles to see. Hiram 
Yonng was a colored man who did a thriving 
business in the manufacture and sale of over- 
land paraphernalia. 

Among other things which Dick saw was a 
caravan belonging to three brothers by the name 
of Bent, who were about to start for a ^^fort," 
or hunting and trapping station, which they had 
established in the Eockies near the headwaters 
of the Upper Arkansas. 

These Bent brothers fill a goodly space in 
the history of that time, and indeed it would 
be difficult to tell the story of any of the west- 
ern scouts without mentioning them, for almost 
all of them, from the famous Kit Carson down, 
were mixed up with the Bents in some way or 
other, usually as hunters. 

A halo of adventure and romance hung over 
these worthy traders; visions of their remote 
post in the wilderness arose in the mind of 
young Dick Wooton, and he felt that come what 
might, he could not allow their caravan to depart 
without him. 

If he wished for a life of adventure he was 
certainly on the right track, and he then and 
there began his long career as a western scout 
and hunter, which continued until he was al- 
most ninety years of age. Old Uncle Dick, 



UNCLE DICK WOOTON 71 

famous among liis comrades albeit his renown 
seems not to have gone far forth into the world, 
died in his remote home high among the Eockies. 
By that time the Atchison, Topeka and Santa 
Fe Eailroad, following the line of the Old Trail 
through the mountains which he had followed 
for so many years before the breath of steam 
had blighted the old romance, passed almost by 
his door; and the old scout, sitting before his 
cabin, could watch the steel giants puffing out 
their lungs as they drew their less romantic 
caravan of prosy freight cars up the tortuous 
way. And though his place in history is ob- 
scure, he did not die unheralded and unsung; 
for one of those great freight locomotives was 
named ''Uncle Dick," in honor of him, and he 
used to watch for it with the same eagerness, 
albeit with eyes weakened by age, as he had 
watched the bordering rocks for lurking sav- 
ages in his active days. 

I am not so sure but that I should rather have 
a locomotive named after me than to be given 
a humble spot in some history or other, for a 
locomotive makes a great deal of noise in the 
world and carries one's name a long way. 

Let us glance at a few incidents in Uncle 
Dick's long and varied career. 

It is not hard to understand why the brothers 
Bent agreed to take him along when he naively 
informed them that he could shoot out a squir- 



72 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

rePs right eye — or his left one, for that matter, 
they might take their choice. 

He went in the capacity of teamster, and his 
first essay with his rifle did not contribute to 
his glory. One night, as the caravan was pass- 
ing through the region of the Upper Arkansas, 
it was Dick's turn to stand guard while the 
train was corralled for the night. 

It was customary to corral a caravan by form- 
ing the mules in a circle, or in two or more 
circles if there were enough of them, with the 
wagon and the people inside. 

Dick was ordered to keep a sharp lookout, and 
to shoot any moving object which he discovered 
outside the outer circle. You are to suppose 
that after his vaunting squirrel 's-eye representa- 
tion he justly considered himself on his mettle, 
and was resolved that no ** moving object" should 
get away if he knew it. 

At last, after a sleepless and uneventful watch 
of several hours, young Dick became aware of 
a ** moving object" and he opened fire upon it 
with commendable promptitude. 

His shot aroused the sleeping travelers, and 
it was presently discovered that Dick had killed 
**01d Jack," one of the mules of the caravan! 
He protested that he was not to blame, since 
he had followed instructions implicitly, whereas 
the mule had wilfully disobeyed the rules. 

Before the end of that long journey, however, 



UNCLE DICK WOOTON 73 

Dick retrieved himself somewhat by helping to 
save the other mules from thieving Indians. 

Of all the notorious pilferers from time im- 
memorial, there have been none to compare with 
the Comanches. These noble warriors, whose 
prowess has been the theme of song and story, 
were in plain fact a crew of contemptible thieves 
whose valiant deeds were nearly always inci- 
dental to their sordid thefts. 

A\Tien the travelers had reached a point along 
the Trail called Pawnee Forks they were sur- 
prised one night by a large band of this tribe, 
who descended npon them shrieking like so many 
demons in the hope of frightening and stamped- 
ing the animals, which it was their intention to 
steal. 

Not a single mnle did they get, but they re- 
ceived instead a generons shower of lead, and 
young Dick Wooton did not stint his contribu- 
tion of rifle balls. He killed his first Comanche 
that night. 

In good time the caravan arrived at its desti- 
nation and Dick remained at the Fort as assist- 
ant to the proprietors, who had grown very fond 
of him on the long journey. 

Here he met the group of hunters and trap- 
pers who made their headquarters at the Fort, 
and here began his lifelong friendship with Kit 
Carson, chief among them. 

He accompanied the brothers on many of their 



74 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

trading trips among the Indians, learned the 
indistinct trails which wound through the moun- 
tains, and acquitted himself well as a tracker 
and hunter. 

But the relations of the Bent brothers with 
the Indians were not confined wholly to trading, 
for on the vast prairies and among the fast- 
nesses of the adjacent foothills there lurked al- 
ways the treacherous and bloody Pa\vnees, and 
the hunter who ventured forth from the Fort 
alone did so at his peril. 

On one occasion Dick Wooton and seven other 
men were sent along the Trail to meet and con- 
voy a caravan which was expected to bring sup- 
plies for the Fort. They soon discovered that 
a band of Pa^vnees was also waiting, lured to 
the old highway by visions of stolen mules and 
other commodities from the eastern marts of 
civilization. 

They were doomed to disappointment. The 
scouts were well mounted, and though the Paw- 
nees greatly outnumbered them and received 
them with volley after volley of arrows, they 
were no match for the crack shots from Bent's 
Fort, and thirteen of them were killed in short 
order. 

It happened just at that juncture that the 
caravan appeared from beyond a small divide, 
and the Pawnees who had been fortunate enough 
to escape the rifle shot of the hunters ran pell- 



UNCLE DICK WOOTON 75 

mell for the wagons, seeking the protection of 
the party they had intended to waylay! Strange 
to say, they were allowed to go free in accord- 
ance with a custom which prevailed along the 
Old Trail never to deal harshly with one who 
came seeking hospitality. 

It is conceivable that hospitality may be car- 
ried too far! 

Another interesting experience occurred while 
Uncle Dick was on his way from the Fort to 
trade with the Ute Indians. He had with him 
seven white men and a friendly Sha^vnee Indian. 
This Shawnee cherished a bitter grudge against 
the Utes, who had lately murdered one of his 
brethren. 

One might suppose that in his revengeful state 
of mind he was not the ideal one to accompany 
Uncle Dick's party, and so it proved, for the 
moment he set eyes upon a Ute brave his anger 
got the better of him and he killed the Ute 
without regard to the effect of his deed upon 
the prospective customers. Whatever may be 
said of his righteous anger, he was woefully 
lacking in tact and not cut out for a states- 
man. 

The nearest Ute village was not far distant, 
and after the Shawnee's act it was hardly to 
be supposed that the villagers would be in a 
mood for trading. So Uncle Dick abandoned 
all thought of business negotiations and resolved 



76 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

to withdraw from the Utes' country with the 
least possible delay. 

But the infuriated Utes, having likewise 
abandoned all thought of barter, were presently 
on his trail, outnumbering the whites twenty 
to one. They pursued the party across the 
open prairies where it was quite impossible for 
Dick to make up for his weakness in numbers 
by obtaining a vantage point, and the plight 
of his little company was desperate enough. 

As it was also out of the question to out- 
distance the pursuers by reason of the heavily 
laden pack-mules, Dick soon resolved on the 
only course possible, however perilous that 
might be. He made a stand, corralling the 
animals in a circle, with the tempting wares 
which he had brought as a sort of outer wall 
to tantalize, we may suppose, as well as con- 
found the pursuing host. 

The eight men, including the wretched Pawnee, 
took their stand within the enclosure and bravely 
awaited the issue. 

The Utes were soon upon them, circling about 
the little makeshift stockade and keeping up a 
lively fire. The white men replied and their 
trusty rifles, albeit few in number, worked havoc 
among the yelling savages, most of whose arrows 
fell short or miscarried. 

Screeching and dancing have always been a 
conspicuous feature of Indian military science. 



UNCLE DICK WOOTON 77 

and while the Utes kept up their ear-splitting 
clamor and tripped their wild fantastic without, 
the little party within was busy picking thena 
off and killing their horses by the dozens. 

At last the Utes gave np in despair, and cast- 
ing many a rueful glance upon the good things 
which they might have had through the exercise 
of a little forbearance, they left their dead com- 
panions and horses and returned on foot to their 
village. 

Not the least remarkable and creditable of all 
Uncle Dick's feats was the hewing out of a road 
through the Eaton Pass to enable caravans with 
wagons to make the same short-cut through the 
mountains as that taken by the pack-mule trains. 

In this undertaking he proved himself indeed 
a scout, blazing the way for civilization and com- 
merce. The State of Colorado gave him permis- 
sion to go ahead with his plan and when the road 
was completed to collect tolls as his o^^^l remu- 
neration and to keep his mountain highway in 
repair. 

Uncle Dick's great dream came true. In good 
time the road was completed, one of the most 
rugged and remarkable roads in the world, and 
old Uncle Dick (he was old Uncle Dick by that 
time) built himself a home on the top of the 
mountain, where he hunted and trapped and 
collected his tolls from the caravans and pack 
trains, and lived out the balance of his useful 



78 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

life high up in his wild remote home, far from 
the haunts of men. 

A romantic figure the old man must have been 
to travelers from the East when he stepped from 
his rough cabin to chat with them as they wound 
their way through his rocky domain en route 
to quaint old Santa Fe. To him was due the 
credit for shortening their tedious and monoto- 
nous journey of many weeks, and it was alto- 
gether proper and appropriate that when that 
still greater time-saver, the locomotive, came it 
should bear the name of Uncle Dick. 

He himself tells of his experiences as guardian 
of that lofty, rock-ribbed road before the railway 
came. 

^^ . . I had five classes of patrons to do busi- 
ness with," he said. *^ There was the stage 
company and its employees, the freighters, the 
military authorities, who marched troops and 
supplies over the road, the Mexicans and the 
Indians." 

He had an easy time of it with the first three 
classes, he tells us, but **with the Indians . . . 
I didn't care to have any controversy about so 
small a matter as a few dollars toll. Whenever 
they came along, the gate went up, and any other 
little thing I could do to hurry them on was 
done promptly and cheerfully." 

He was a wise toll-gate keeper, was old Uncle 
Dick. 



UNCLE DICK WOOTON 79 

^^My Mexican patrons were the hardest to get 
along with/' he goes on; and we can readily 
believe that. *'They were pleased with my road 
and liked to travel over it, until they came to 
the toll-gate. 

''They naturally differed with me frequently 
about the propriety of complying with my re- 
quest. . . . Such differences had to be adjusted. 
Sometimes I did it through diplomacy and some- 
times I did it with a club.'' 

"We cannot refrain from quoting Uncle Dick's 
own account of a stage coach robbery on his 
remote mountain which had all of the approved 
romantic quality of a hold-up by the renowned 
Eobin Hood of old. 

''One of the most daring and successful stage 
robberies that I remember was perpetrated by 
two men when the east-bound coach was coming 
up on the south side of the Eaton Mountains 
one day about ten o'clock in the forenoon. 

"On the morning of the same day, a little 
after sunrise, two rather genteel-looking fellows, 
mounted on fine horses, rode up to my house 
and asked for breakfast. ... I knew then, just 
as well as I do now, they were robbers, but I 
had no warrant for their arrest, and I should 
have hesitated about serving it if I had because 
they looked like very unpleasant men to transact 
that kind of business with. Each of them had 



80 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

four pistols sticking in Ms belt and a repeating 
rifle strapped on his saddle.'' 

We can appreciate one's disinclination to 
serve a warrant on snch men. 

**They had little to say while eating. . . . 
AYhen they had finished they paid their bills 
and rode leisurely up the mountain. 

**It did not occur to me that they would take 
chances on stopping the stage in daylight or 
I should have sent someone to meet the incom- 
ing coach. . . . 

*^It turned out, however, that a daylight rob- 
bery was just what they had in mind, and they 
made a success of it. 

''About half-way down the New Mexico side of 
the mountain, where the canyon is very narrow, 
and was then heavily wooded on their side, the 
robbers stopped and waited for the coach. It 
came lumbering along by and by, neither the 
drivers nor the passengers dreaming of the 
hold-up. 

**The first intimation they had of such a thing 
was when they saw two men step into the road, 
one on each side of the stage, each of them 
holding two cocked revolvers, one of which was 
brought to bear on the passengers and the other 
on the driver, who were politely but very posi- 
tively told that they must throw up their hands 
without any unnecessary delay, and the stage 
came to a standstill. 



UNCLE DICK WOOTON 81 

*^ There were four passengers in the coach, 
all men, bnt their hands went np at the same 
instant that the driver dropped his reins and 
struck an attitude that suited the robbers. 

**Then, while one of the men stood guard, the 
others stepped up to the stage and ordered the 
treasure box thrown off. This demand was com- 
plied Avith, and the box was broken and rifled 
of its contents, which fortunately were not of 
very great value. 

*'The passengers were compelled to hand out 
their watches and other jewelry, as well as what 
money they had in their pockets, and then the 
driver was directed to move up the road. In 
a minute after this the robbers had disappeared 
with their booty and that was the last seen of 
them by that particular coach-load of passen- 
gers." 

It is pleasant to know that these '* genteel- 
looking'' scoundrels met an untimely death even 
though the law did not overtake them. They 
were later killed by one of their o^vn confeder- 
ates who hoped thus to win a reward of a thou- 
sand dollars which had been offered for their 
capture. 

It was amid such scenes as this and in con- 
tinual proximity to the most lawless and des- 
perate characters — Indians, Mexicans and train 
robbers — that old Uncle Dick spent the declin- 
ing years of his adventurous career, hunting 



82 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

and trapping when the spirit of the old days 
became too strong to be resisted and watching 
the sun go down beyond the rugged peaks of 
his beloved Kocky Mountains. 

When he was too old and feeble to give an 
account of himself as he had done so often in 
younger days, the old scout was still protected, 
in a measure at least, by a sacred law of the 
Arapahoe Indians — ^his friends and neighbors of 
that lonely Eaton Eouge. 

One of their chiefs to whom Dick had once 
done a kindness had summoned his warriors 
about his dying couch and made them promise 
that old Cut Hand, as they called Dick Wooton, 
should never suffer harm at their hands, not 
even if the tribe should be at war with the whole 
world of white men. 

It is a fine thing to be able to protect oneself 
with a trusty rifle or a strong right arm. But 
perhaps it is finer still to earn protection through 
friendship and kindness, for such protection 
lasts, as it lasted with rough old Uncle Dick 
Wooton, when the arm is withered and the old 
rifle is rusted and rotted away. 




© Century Co. Drawn by Frederic Remington. 

TRAPPERS CROSSING THE ROCKIES. 



WILLIAM F. CODY 
(buffalo bill) 

Picturesque career of one of the most familiar of all scouts, 
and his adventures in the West. 

High up among the Eockies in tlie city of 
Denver, Colorado, there died on the tenth of 
January, 1917, an old man with flowing hair 
as white as snow, whose magnificent frame and 
iron nerve had enabled him to defy death for 
many weeks. But at last the stout heart which 
had never wavered or knoA\Ti a pang of fear 
ceased to beat, and one of the greatest scouts 
the world has ever kno^vn was no m.ore. 

It was altogether a singular occurrence. Not 
that there was anything extraordinary in the fact 
of Buffalo Bill's dying, for he had passed his 
three-score years and ten. But his dying peace- 
fully in a bed— that was the surprising thing; 
for by all the rules of the game he should have 
been killed a dozen times in the open air — on 
the prairie, or in the rocky fastnesses which he 
knew so well. Tomahawks, arrows and bullets 
had whizzed about him for half a century or so. 
Horses had been killed under him; his great 

83 



84 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

sombrero had been shot full of holes, and yet 
not until he was good and ready, as one might 
say, did he lie down peacefully and die, just as 
anyone else might have done. 

"We may be sure that he was not afraid to 
die, since he had lived on familiar terms with 
death for so long. 

Napoleon once said, *^I am the State!" mean- 
ing that he was the whole of France — with per- 
haps something left over. It would have come 
nearer to the truth if Buffalo Bill had said, ^^I 
am the Wild West!'' For while we can think 
of France without Napoleon, it is difficult to 
think of the ^^Wild AYest" without Buffalo Bill. 

He was its central figure — its very spirit. 
The West was a vast stage on which he enacted 
some of the most daring and extraordinary 
exploits in the whole history of the world. He 
was America's greatest and most picturesque 
scout; and he was the last of her long line of 
scouts. There may be other Napoleons. There 
may be other General Grants. There can never 
be another Buffalo Bill. 

The adventurous life of William Frederick 
Cody began in Scott County, Iowa, on February 
26th, 1845. Seven years later his father, Isaac 
Cody, moved his family to Kansas. 

It does not require a telescope to see whence 
young William came by his bold and adventur- 
ous spirit, for his father was the typical fron- 



WILLIAM F. CODY 85 

tiersman, possessing unlimited courage, a bound- 
less love of adventure, and very little money. 

Kansas was a very remote and wild place in 
those days, and here William ^s father established 
a trading-post on the plains. Scarce a week 
passed but the young boy saw caravans of Mor- 
mons or gold-seekers crossing the vast prairies, 
and doubtless from his lonesome home he 
watched the plodding horses and lumbering 
canvas-hooded wagons grow out of mere specks 
on the horizon till they brought up at his father 's 
isolated abode for supplies. 

That was when little Bill Cody first saw the 
typical frontiersman in all his romantic glory 
of leather stockings and sombrero, long hair and 
pistols. 

Young Bill made up his mind that come what 
might his hair should never be shorn, though 
little did the youngster dream that the day was 
to come when his flowing locks should be famil- 
iar the world over. 

There were a good many sectional disputes 
in Kansas in those days, and these were usually 
settled, not by the courts, but by the quicker 
and more decisive method of pistol shots. In 
one of these sanguinary, miniature wars the 
elder Cody lost his life and the young son was 
left the only support of his mother. 

Young William got a job carrying stores across 
the plains to army posts, and it was while so 



86 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

engaged tliat he had his first experience in 
Indian fighting and killed his first Indian. He 
was but twelve years old at the time. The 
Mormons had taken possession of the country 
which is now Utah, and a wagon-train of pro- 
visions was being rushed to a detachment of 
Uncle Sam's troops who were campaigning 
against these grim and heartless fanatics. 

The party was attacked by a strong force of 
Indians; the horses were stampeded, and the 
plainsmen forced to fight their way along a se- 
ries of high bluffs to Fort Kearney, about forty 
miles away. 

One by one, the gallant men were picked off. 
Young William, mere boy that he was, stood the 
strain of those terrible hours like a hero, but 
as night came on he found himself alone and 
his strength was ebbing fast. It was a predica- 
ment to strike terror to the stoutest heart. 

About midnight he saw the dim form of an 
Indian creeping stealthily along the bluff above 
him, and peering at him cruelly. Quick as a 
flash young Cody fired. The night was rent by 
a savage yell as the Indian, with Cody's bullet 
in his brain, tumbled off the ledge and lay dead 
almost at the boy's feet. 

Having proved that mere Indians were no 
obstacles to him in the prosecution of his ap- 
pointed errands, young William, as you may well 
suppose, came to be in great demand upon the 



WILLIAM F. CODY 87 

plains and trails where lurking dangers awaited 
the timorous wayfarer. 

He next accepted a job as a pony express 
rider over the old Salt Lake Trail, where he 
soon made a reputation for himself as a guide, 
and in dealing with road agents and outwitting 
bands of hostile Indians. The red men came 
to know him and gave him a wide berth. 

But great things w^ere about to happen in the 
Nation and young Cody hit the devious and 
bloody trail which was to lead him through the 
dreadful Civil War. 

When hostilities began between the North and 
South, William enlisted as a private in the 
Seventh Kansas Cavalry. He was one of the 
band which became kno^\Ti to the Union and 
to the Confederate troops as the Jayhawkers. 

As you may suppose, he was an expert horse- 
man, and even in those early days of his life 
he presented an impressive figure as he sat upon 
his horse with that quiet mien which was to be- 
come so familiar to the world in later years, 
when the superbly proportioned, keen-eyed, hand- 
some man, with flowing locks and great sombrero, 
sat with quiet dignity upon his white horse and 
responded modestly to the applause of millions. 
You cannot even think of Buffalo Bill without 
his horse — any more than you can think of a 
pirate mthout his earrings and his red ban- 
danna. 



88 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

The war had not lasted a year when young 
Cody became chief of sconts under General Cur- 
tis, with headquarters in St. Louis; and it was 
here that there befell the handsome young scout 
the most important adventure of his life. 

Eiding one morning through the streets of the 
city, he came upon a party of drunken soldiers 
who were annoying a group of schoolgirls. One 
of these, an exceedingly pretty girl, was scream- 
ing and wringing her hands in terror. Scout 
Cody had not the slightest fear of Indian war- 
whoops, but he was such a coward that he could 
not listen to the sound of a girl crying. 

So he rode up and ordered the drunken sol- 
diers to disperse. And right then the drunken 
soldiers made the great mistake of their lives; 
for they hooted at the young horseman, ridicul- 
ing him, and making merry over his peremptory 
order, whereupon young Cody, who invariably 
followed words with action (leaving a very small 
space between), knocked three of them senseless, 
one after another, in rapid succession. The rest 
of them were seized suddenly with the sober 
second thought, and dispersed with lightning 
agility, leaving the young scout master of the 
situation. 

The girl who had screamed did not run away, 
but stood gazing upon the young horseman with 
undisguised admiration. Young Cody offered to 
see her safely to her home, and although there 



WILLIAM F. CODY 89 

was no further danger from drunken soldiers, 
she did not decline his offer. 

She was an extremely pretty girl by the name 
of Louise Frederica, the daughter of a French 
exile in America, and having protected her as 
far as her home, the young scout conceived that 
it would be desirable to accompany her through 
life. 

Everything about "William F. Cody was ro- 
mantic. There is not a prosy thing in his his- 
tory. Like a gallant knight of yore, one of the 
true Eound-Table, King-Arthur brand, he mar- 
ried Miss Louise Frederica and after the war 
he took her out to the Salt Creek Valley in 
Kansas, where he resumed the old frontier life 
which he loved so well. 

In those days the Kansas Pacific Eailroad 
was being constructed and the managers of the 
great enterprise were experiencing difficulty in 
feeding their great army of laborers who were 
laying the rails across the vast, lonely prairie. 

Having heard something of the redoubtable 
plainsman with the long hair and the keen eye, 
the railroad managers sent for him and asked 
him if he could be of service to them in pro- 
curing and transporting food for their multitude 
of hungry workers. 

**Will they eat buffalo meat?" asked Cody. 

**They v>dll eat anything they can get enough 
of," was the answer. 



90 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

**Then I will undertake to keep them sup- 
plied, '^ said Cody. 

In the following eighteen months he killed 
4,280 buffaloes, which extraordinary record won 
him the title by which he came to be known the 
world over, of ^'Buffalo Bill.'' 

In the spring of 1868, he became again one 
of Uncle Sam's scouts, acting as guide for the 
Fifth Cavalry against the Sioux and Cheyennes, 
who were beginning to show the sullen spirit 
which ere long was to find vent in savage war- 
fare. 

Besides the assistance he was able to render 
in subduing the red men, he found time during 
the years between 1868 and 1872 to act as guide 
to many overland emigrant parties, and his rep- 
utation as a buffalo hunter became great in the 
land. Instances of his prowess, strange tales 
of his romantic and perilous adventures, were 
circulated through the more populous East, and 
people paused aghast and incredulous at the 
extravagant reports of the buffalo hunts in 
which he slew his quarry by the thousands. 

Travelers visiting the Far West returned with 
stories of the tall, silent, handsome horseman 
whose adventurous career was like a tale of the 
giants of yore. 

Among the enthusiastic easterners for whom 
he had acted as guide were Mr. August Belmont 
and some other prominent gentlemen of New, 



WILLIAM F. CODY 91 

York, who invited the famous scout to visit the 
metropolis. In dne time he arrived there, clad 
in buckskins, a picturesque embodiment of what 
a scout and frontiersman was expected to be. 
No writer of dime novels could have imagined 
a more nearly perfect figure of pathfinder and 
Indian fighter than Buffalo Bill presented in the 
crowded thoroughfares of the great city. Peo- 
ple followed him in the streets, boys dogged his 
footsteps, as he strolled about with that quiet 
dignity and unconcern which were characteristic 
of him. 

While upon this memorable visit, it chanced 
that he was taken to a theatre where, to his 
great surprise, an actor in buckskins appeared 
on the stage as the ^'famous Buffalo Bill.'' The 
enthusiastic reception accorded to this very poor 
imitation of himself suggested to him the idea 
of a real Wild West Show with the real Buffalo 
Bill, in all his well-earned glory, at its head. 
It was long before the idea became a reality, 
but when at last it did materialize the fame of 
the great scout made it a sensation and Buffalo 
Bill's Wild West Show became an institution, 
not only in America, but in Europe as well, 
where boys who had no knowledge of our vast 
western prairies, nor of scouts and Indians and 
buffaloes, were enabled to see the overland stage 
coach attacked in realistic fashion by hooting 
wild men, and buffaloes lassoed with a skill and 



92 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

dexterity which were nothing less than marvel- 
ous in their thrilling reality. 

In 1872, William Cody, now a colonel, was 
elected to the Nebraska Legislature. Later on, 
when the Grand Duke Alexis, of Eussia, came 
to America, Cody was selected to act as his 
guide on a hunting trip. In 1876, the warlike 
Sioux became troublesome and Buffalo Bill went 
back to Uncle Sam's army as chief of scouts. 

It was in the spring of the year 1876, at the 
Battle of Indian Creek, that Buffalo Bill per- 
formed one of his most famous exploits. He 
was at the time serving under General Crooke, 
who had made ready to attack the Indians in 
a large open place. Suddenly a Sioux chief, 
superbly mounted, galloped fearlessly into the 
open, and looking with sneering defiance upon 
the scout, challenged him to ride forth. 

*^I know you, Pa-he-haska ! " * he shouted. 
**Come out if you dare and fight me!" 

The chief was Yellow Hand, a noted warrior 
whom Cody knew well. Before General Crooke 
could interfere, and to the amazement of all 
beholders, the scout rode forward, bestriding 
his horse with leisurely mien, his keen eye fixed 
upon the chief, who was taken aback at this 
prompt acceptance of his challenge. 

Shot after shot Cody fired as he urged his 
horse forward. The Indian's horse toppled over 

*Long Hair. 



WILLIAM F. CODY 93 

dead. Cody's charger stumbled and fell, throw- 
ing his rider. Then Yellow Hand and Buffalo 
Bill rushed toward each other on foot, Yellow 
Hand with a tomahawk, the scout with his hunt- 
ing knife ; and in a desperate hand-to-hand grap- 
ple Buffalo Bill drove his knife into the Indian's 
heart. 

Fifteen years later, during the fierce Sioux 
outbreak that centered about Pine Eidge Agency, 
in Colorado, Colonel Cody and his friend Major 
Burke were of inestimable service to the gov- 
ernment. 

Buffalo Bill took part in more Indian battles 
than any other American scout or soldier. He 
was, however, a true friend of the red men when 
they kept faith and avoided the warpath. Every 
Indian of the great West knew him and trusted 
him. They knew he would make good either 
threat or promise and they believed in him and 
feared him. 

In 1890-91 occurred the most frightful out- 
break of the warlike and treacherous Sioux. It 
began with a *^ ghost dance" instigated by the 
wily old chief. Sitting Bull, who knew that in 
their excitement the braves would presently 
make of it a war dance. This indeed came to 
pass, and soon the night was made horrible by 
their savage yells. 

In this outbreak Buffalo Bill took the field 
resplendent in the uniform of a brigadier-gen- 



94 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

eral. A friendly Indian chief called on him one 
day to pay his respects. 

^*You big general now, too, Bill!" said he. 

*'Yes," said the scout, drawing his magnifi- 
cent frame to its full height. **I'm a general 
now. ' ' 

**Big — much big general — same as Crooke?" 

^*No, I'm a general in the National Gnard," 
replied Cody. 

The chief looked at him for a minute in sur- 
prise. ^^M'lish! Oh, hell! You much biggest 
general," said he. 

Indeed, it Is doubtful if Julius C^sar himself 
could have won the reputation for military skill 
which the American Indians cheerfully accorded 
to William F. Cody. 

Almost every famous scout is chiefly known 
for some conspicuously heroic episode in his 
career. But William F. Cody was conspicuous 
and picturesque because of his whole career. 
Any one decade of his amazing life is about as 
full of adventure as another. To describe them 
all would be to fill a volume. 

He became not only famous, but a national 
character; and his superb physique and mien of 
simple dignity, his picturesque presence, and 
gentle modesty in the face of the world's ap- 
plause won him the love of the country whose 
flag he guarded so well and whose outposts he 
helped to push still farther westward. 



WILLIAM F. CODY 95 

It was in 1883 that he organized the great 
Wild West Show that became world-famous. 
There were some who were sorry to see the 
romantic scout and pathfinder become a show- 
man, and this indeed might have been the feel- 
ing throughout the country had it not been for 
the fact that his show became more than a show 
and soon ranked as an institution of world-wide 
reno\\Ti. 

This was because it was in the truest sense 
a reproduction of the exploits which he had 
enacted and the life which he had lived. They 
were not actor cowboys Vv^ho followed the trail 
of Buffalo Bill in his famous tours, nor man- 
ufactured Indians, nor broken-spirited buffaloes 
out of zoological parks and prosy menageries. 
The figure which bestrode the Avhite charger was 
the same Bill Cody who had killed Chief Yellow 
Hand in that personal encounter. 

But in July, 1913, began bitter days for the 
old scout. The famous show had long since lost 
its novelty and its popularity had begun to wane. 
At last, after many business troubles and re- 
verses, the celebrated show, last realistic sou- 
venir of the Wild West which is no more, was 
sold under the hammer, and the Indians were 
sent back to government reservations. 

There was, however, one bright spot for the 
old scout. 

His famous white horse, Isham, w^hich he had 



96 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

ridden for twenty-five years, was bought in for 
him by Colonel C. J. Bills, of Nebraska, an old 
friend and admirer of the great plainsman. 

With this old companion, Isham, he retired 
to a Western ranch and there he spent the 
greater part of his remaining days. 

In June, 1917, five months after his death, the 
remains of Buffalo Bill w^ere removed to the 
tomb which had been prepared for them on 
the top of a mountain near Denver in Colorado, 
an appropriate spot for the grave of the man 
who had served Uncle Sam so well and bravely in 
the country overlooked by that remote sepulchre. 



BELZY DODD 

How lie proved a timely friend to a caravan on tlie great 
plains; of his pranks, his hair and his tin can, and how 
they proved a saving grace to himself and others. 

If it were not for the unimpeachable word 
of Uncle Dick Wooton and some vagrant rem- 
iniscences of the late Major Burke, we might 
be inclined to regard Belzy Dodd as a myth. 

Captain Crawford, the scout poet, also claimed 
to have known him, though why he did not write 
a poem about him it is not easy to understand. 
Such a character as Belzy was cjuite as deserv- 
ing of the preservative of verse as the Pied 
Piper of Hamelin or the celebrated Old King 
Cole. He was the low comedy scout of the 
Southwest. 

History contains no consecutive or full ac- 
count of the exploits of Belzy Dodd; even Uncle 
Dick, who met him at Bent's Fort along the 
Arkansas, knew him only by his nickname of 
Belzy, and his biographer must needs be sat- 
isfied with little reminiscent crumbs picked up 
here and there. 

With these we shall endeavor to piece out a 
fairly orderly account of his career. No one 
knows where or when Belzy was born, or where 

97 



98 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

and when lie died, but he flourished contempo- 
raneously Avith Kit Carson and that galaxy of 
scouts and trappers who foregathered at the 
famous trading-post of the Bents, called Bent^s 
Fort. Uncle Dick, indeed, saw him perform the 
exploit which, repeated many times and under 
diverse circumstances, won him fame in the 
Kockies and along the Old Trail to Santa Fe. 

Belzy first bobs into notice near Pawnee 
Creek, along the Trail, where it runs parallel 
with the Arkansas Eiver. A caravan of trad- 
ers, who were on their way to Santa Fe, dis- 
covered him in a canoe, and beckoning to him 
asked him if there was much danger to be ap- 
prehended from the Pawnee Indians along the 
Trail. 

They discovered Belzy to be a man of meagre 
physique, extremely wiry, v/ith darting black 
eyes, and curly jet-black hair. 

He told the traders that it was true the Paw- 
nees were on the warpath, and recounted a recent 
hold-up with attendant scalpings which must 
have struck terror even to their stout hearts. 

He then went on to tell them that he was a 
scout of no mean attainments, possessing a talis- 
man against Pawnees and all other Indians, and 
concluding his unblushing self-praises with an 
offer to be their guide to Santa Fe. 

Finding him of a waggish turn, and judging 
by his rifle and buckskin that he was indeed a 



BELZY DODD 99 

scout, the traders readily assented to his join- 
ing their party, and it soon became apparent, 
notwithstanding his whimsical caprices, that he 
was thoroughly familiar with the mountains and 
the plains. 

On their monotonous plodding across the prai- 
ries he contributed not a litlle to their beguile- 
ment by his eccentric manner and highly flavored 
yarns. 

The history of the plains and of the frontier 
contains little of humor; the times and circum- 
stances were too strenuous and grim for laugh- 
ter and merrymaking; and though the coaching 
stations and the lonely fort of the Bents were 
often the scenes of rough rejoicings and crude 
practical jests, we search in vain for any of the 
more delicate incentives to mirth among those 
rough plainsmen and hardy mountaineers. 

Belzy Dodd, as good a comedian as he was 
a scout, must have been a refreshing innovation 
to those who met Avith him in the lonely rocky 
fastnesses or the dry toilsome plains. 

Such, indeed, his hosts of the lumbering car- 
avan found him, for as they labored on he 
beguiled the tedium of the journey with a hun- 
dred wanton antics and conceits. 

Now he gave an exhibition of his agility by 
running alongside a buffalo, clipping off some 
of its hair with his hunting-knife, and presently 
appearing on the opposite side of the beast with 



100 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

these clippings improvised into mnstaclie and 
whiskers, to the delight of the children of the 
caravan, who fonnd in his whimsical disguise 
a source of great hilarity. 

Again he would imitate the call of the prairie 
dog, confounding that animal himself with the 
truthfulness of his mimicry; or, perchance, he 
would render an Indian war dance, or, in soberer 
mood, offer a demonstration of marksmanship 
which won the admiration of his hosts. 

Such was Belzy Dodd, whose prowess was in 
full proportion to his drollery and whose rifle 
shot as well as his clownish pranks invariably 
hit the mark. 

In the course of time the caravan reached the 
point in its journey where Indian attack was 
most likely to occur and, notwithstanding the 
reassuring words of Belzy that he would protect 
them and his vague references to his mysterious 
talisman, the traders were not deterred from 
making preparations against a surprise. 

AYhen they asked Belzy about his talisman 
he answered with a darkly significant wink, and 
one could hardly blame the apprehensive travel- 
ers if they reposed more confidence in his rifle 
than in any mystic charm which he claimed to 
possess. 

One night the party corraled their mules in 
the customary prairie fashion, forming them into 
a ring with the wagons and people inside. Then, 



BELZY DODD 101 

leaving one of their number to patrol tlie cir- 
cular encampment, they retired to rest. 

It was just as the first glimmering of the dawn 
had begun to dispel the darkness in the East that 
the travelers were startled out of their sleep by 
the sharp report of a rifle. Eousing themselves 
hurriedly, the men sallied forth to find their 
guard lying upon the ground groaning from the 
effects of a cruel wound while all about, in the 
dim light, they beheld the appalling spectacle of 
a score or more of savage forms brandishing 
their tomahawks and making the early morning 
frightful with their mad cavorting and savage 
war-whoops. 

The traders lost no time in opening fire from 
behind their improvised fortress and the trusty 
rifle of Belzy Dodd, who was among the first 
to rise, had brought down two of the assailants 
before his companions fully realized what was 
happening. 

The shots now fell thick and fast; two of the 
traders were slightly wounded and one other 
who had ventured without to help the stricken 
guard was shot dead. 

It soon became evident that the attacking band 
had been merely a small party sent ahead by a 
formidable body of PaA\Tiees, who now arrived 
in full force, and the predicament of the traders 
became perilous in the extreme. 

Whether, in their desperate extremity, it oc- 



102 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

ciirred to any of tliem to demand of Belzy Dodd 
that lie make good liis promise of a saving talis- 
man, we are not told. Completely surrounded 
by an overwhelming force, they fought gallantly, 
reposing their faith in their rifles and satisfied, 
no doubt, to see their guide and guest ply the 
foe so effectively with his. 

Suddenly they were aghast to behold Belzy 
drop his rifle and, pulling his hunting-knife from 
his belt, dash recklessly forth through the line 
of mules and wagons, uttering such deafening 
and demoniacal yells as had never before as- 
sailed their ears. 

Then, standing in the open with the shrieking 
savages all about him, and before they had a 
chance to recover from their surprise at his bold- 
ness, he ran his hunting-knife around under the 
edge of his hair, and with a frantic shriek tore 
off his jet-black curly shock (which was nothing 
more than a wig) and waved it excitedly about 
him. 

The consternation of the Indians when they 
beheld Belzy 's shiny pate and the hair and hunt- 
ing-knife which he flourished, cannot be de- 
scribed. At the appalling spectacle of this self- 
scalped man yelling and cavorting before them, 
they fled in panic fright, accompanying their 
confused retreat with such clamor as never be- 
fore had been heard upon the plains. 

Belzy Dodd was not one to rest upon his in- 



I 



BELZY DODD 103 

itial laurels, like so many heroes but, encouraged 
by the effect of his exploit, he pursued the terror- 
stricken Pa^^Tiees with great zest and relish, 
waving his ghastly souvenir like a flaunting 
emblem and shrieking like a very demon in their 
wake. In their precipitous stampede one of the 
Indians stumbled and fell and lay trembling 
until a comrade raised him to his feet. 

Neither history nor tradition tell us how far 
the disorganized retreat of the terrified Pawnees 
continued, but judging from the character of 
its beginning we may safely aver, in the familiar 
words of the old song, that *^they never stopped 
running until they got home." 

As for Belzy, after half an hour or so had 
elapsed he sauntered unconcernedly into camp, 
swinging his wig in his hand, and with beads 
of heroic perspiration standing out on his glossy 
pate — the honored testimonials of his triumphant 
rout. 

To say that Belzy now became the hero of 
the caravan would be stating it mildly. To the 
grateful traders his bald head, that proverbial 
subject of unseemly jest, was encircled with a 
halo and viewed as the very symbol of rescue 
and deliverance. 

No golden amulet worn by doughty knight 
of yore was ever contemplated with such feel- 
ings of reassurance and security as was the 
shining dome of Belzy Dodd, the ivory surface 



104 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

of whicli seemed to reflect a cheering guarantee 
of future safety. 

He had, so he explained, performed this trick 
before, and always mth results most gratifying, 
although never with quite such salutary and 
striking success as that which rewarded his ex- 
hibition before the murderous Pawnees. 

Thereafter, among the Indians in the neigh- 
borhood of the Trail, Belzy^s fame was secure. 
He became known as the white man who scalped 
himself. That he could do this again and again 
(as he subsequently did) and each time with 
apparently a fresh crop of hair, served only to 
increase their dismay and terror, and the sav- 
ages, one and all, shunned him like a thing of 
the devil. 

Belzy accompanied the traders to Santa Fe, 
where he received their grateful acknowledg- 
ment of his sprightly companionship and timely 
protection, and then proceeded, in accordance 
with the frailties w^hich are said to accompany 
genius, to regale himself rather excessively with 
the good things which that Mexican metropolis 
had to offer. He then disappeared in the Eocky 
Mountains and we find no further trace of him 
until he reappeared at Bent's Fort some two or 
three years later with a sumptuous collection of 
pelts and an equally sumptuous assortment of 
adventurous yarns. 

Perhaps it was on that visit to the famous 



BELZY DODD 105 

hunting and trading post (in any event, it was 
during one of his numerous visits there) that 
Belzy repeated his famous *^act," to the great 
amusement of old Uncle Dick Wooton and to 
the consternation of the Indians who were 
present. 

**I don't know what his first name was," 
Uncle Dick is reported to have said, ^^but Belzy 
was what we called him. His head was as bald 
as a billiard ball, and he wore a wig. One day 
while we were at Bent's Fort, while there were 
a great number of Indi-ans about, Belzy con- 
cluded to have a bit of fun. He walked around, 
eyeing the Indians fiercely for some time, then 
finally dashing in among them, he gave a series 
of war-whoops which discounted a Comanche 
yell, and pulling off his wig, threw it down at 
the feet of the astonished and terror-stricken 
red men. The savages thought the fellow had 
jerked off his owti scalp, and not one of them 
wanted to stay to see what would happen next. 
They left the fort, running like so many scared 
jackrabbits, and after that none of them could 
be induced to approach anywhere near Dodd.'' 

As for Belzy 's adventures in the Rockies, which 
the sometimes dubious voice of tradition has 
wafted down to us on the original authority 
of his own reports, we can only say that if no 
one can prove them to be true, neither can any- 
one prove them to be untrue, and they are en- 



106 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

titled to sober record as long as tliey keep within 
the bounds of reason. He was without doubt 
a sprightly and ingenious soul, infusing into his 
scouting and hunting exploits a dash of inven- 
tiveness and humor which must have given 
piquancy to his yarns and made him, like the 
village schoolmaster of old, a welcome visitor 
at every fireside. 

On one occasion he had recourse to a variation 
of that mischievous device of naughty boys, the 
* Gripping line," used, whilom, with such tragic 
effect on the minister or the sister's beau, but 
on this occasion only a dismayed grizzly bear 
was the victim. 

Belzy was fleeing as precipitately from the 
furious beast, which he had wounded, as the 
awestruck Pawnees had once fled before him, 
having indeed no alternative but flight, since he 
had despatched his last shot at the infuriated 
animal. 

He had gained somewhat on the beast and was 
in a fair way to win the opposite side of the 
ravine by means of a log which bridged it, if 
he could only embarrass the grizzly's progress 
and thereby gain more time. 

How to do this puzzled even Belzy 's inge- 
nious mind, but suddenly he bethought him of 
that vicious trick which has proven the chagrin 
of many a worthy pedestrian in the days when 
wilful mis^chief v/as more prevalent than it is 



BELZY DODD 107 

now. Perhaps visions of his o^vn lively boy- 
hood reminded Belzy of the classic cord with 
its pendant tin can. 

In any event, his wit, which was qnite as 
nimble as his scampering legs, did not desert 
him in his predicament. 

Never slackening his frantic pace, he unwound 
a sufficient length of his fishing line to reach 
across the trail and tied one end of it to a pail 
which he had been carrying to a spring. Then, 
pausing for a second or two, he fastened the 
other end to a tree at a suitable height to en- 
counter one or other of the shaggy legs of his 
pursuer, and laid his pail on the opposite side 
of the trail in such a position as to hold the line 
taut. According to the classic formula he should 
have had two cans, but all of the refinements of 
civilization were not to be had in the Eocky 
Mountains, and Belzy had, perforce, to make 
shift with his single pail. 

It was, however, a large pail and capable, as 
pails go, of a variety of musical tones, from a 
subdued and dulcet chime to an ear-splitting 
din, and its strategic position in that rocky pass 
greatly increased and varied the powers of its 
performance. 

Belzy, having scarcely paused, was now in full 
swing again, '^running on high'' and casting oc- 
casional furtive looks behind him like a speeding 
autoist. 



108 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

Presently the terrible collision occurred. All 
unsuspecting, the grizzly ran headlong against 
the line, disdaining even to glance at such a mere 
thread in his murderous path. 

But he had reckoned without rue. The faith- 
ful tin pail, jerked from its concealed seat by 
the wayside, sprang like a tiger at bay straight 
at the shaggy form which had given it life. 
Enmeshing the legs of the astonished bear in a 
complicated tangle of line, the pail, hauled and 
thrown this way and that in the grizzly's fright 
and rage, beat against the rocks, causing such 
a deafening clang and clamor as had never be- 
fore echoed in those silent places. 

The more the grizzly lurched and rolled the 
more incessant became the din and tumult; the 
more he reared and snarled at the valiant pail, 
the more hopeless became his entanglement, and 
the louder that humble utensil answered him 
in tones of ringing defiance. 

Meanwhile, Belzy Dodd, pausing not to watch 
this heroic conflict save by fugitive glances, 
gained the opposite side of the cleft, from which 
safe vantage point he presently saw the panic- 
stricken bear lumbering along in pitiable fright 
and perplexity, with the pail bobbing and danc- 
ing in his wake. 

There is no way of knowing how long this 
musical appendage followed Bruin in his for- 
agings about the Eockies. It would be strik- 



BELZY DODD 109 

ingly romantic to conceive it as pnrsning him 
forever lilve a guilty conscience, dinging its mo- 
notonous song in his weary ears and rousing 
the echoes in his cavernous haunts. 

But no doubt the distracted brute succeeded 
in extricating himself from his unwelcome fol- 
lower, and we may contemplate the more prosaic 
picture of the doughty pail reposing, dented and 
rusted, in some remote spot in the great range, 
even to this very day. 

As for Belzy, he escaped as he usually did 
— ^minus his pail. No doubt such an ingenious 
mind as his contrived to overcome this incon- 
venience when he had time to pause and think. 

Perhaps he was able to use his wig as a do- 
mestic utensil w^hen visiting the spring. This, 
however, is only a random suggestion and has 
no basis whatever in historical fact. 



GEORGE CROGHAN 

How lie disobeyed orders; how lie won over his superiors; 
how he used his old sturdy six-pounder; together with 
all the other particulars of his extraordinary defence 
of Fort Stephenson. 

It wonld be both pleasant and appropriate to 
follow the sprightly adventures of that unique 
scout, Belzy Dodd, with those of another scout 
of similar mould, one Tom Quick, who, in the 
good old days, was a hero of no small note in 
Sussex County, in the northwestern corner of 
New Jersey. The old inhabitants of that pic- 
turesque region will to-day show you Tom 
Quick's cave in the mountain, where he lay 
concealed while the Indians hunted for him high 
and low. They will tell you how at last, when 
the red men had succeeded in hunting him down 
and surprised him in the act of splitting a log 
with his axe, he proved still too wily for them 
and made good his escape in the following ex- 
traordinary manner. 

Administering such a blow that his axe sank 
deep into the log, he besought the guileless sav- 
ages, on some pretext or other, to insert their 
hands into the crevice, and when they had done 
so he removed the axe with surprising dexterity 

110 



GEOEGE CROGHAN 111 

and sauntered off while they wrenched and strug- 
gled to free themselves from this very effective 
trap. 

Indeed, if one's credulity appears robust and 
capable of heavy strain, the good people of that 
district can give it a severer test still with other 
instances of Tom Quick's phenomenal exploits, 
and there is a musty old book somewhere or 
other which tells of his deeds of derring-do. 

This ancient volume, however, has proved quite 
as elusive as Tom himself was, and as the tra- 
ditions about him are rather hazy and extrava- 
gant, we shall dismiss him from our pages with 
this brief mention, notwithstanding that we had 
indulged a certain neighborly pride in the hope 
of presenting a true New Jersey scout. 

We shall, then, turn our attention to Ohio, 
where scout trails have been many and where 
the somber backwoods and lonely borderland 
were once replete with adventure; and our story 
will be of Major George Croghan, whom we may 
well call a boy scout, although he lived long 
before the days of the ^^Be Prepared" motto 
and the khaki uniform. 

Those who have read the story of George 
Eogers Clark will remember that the old fron- 
tiersman died at the home of his. sister, near 
Louisville, on the Ohio River. 

This sister was a Mrs. Croghan, and as if it 
were not enough to have one of the bravest 



112 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

brothers that ever a prond sister possessed, she 
must also be the mother of one of the most 
redoubtable youngsters that ever disobeyed or- 
ders and hurled defiance at his foemen and 
elders. 

In the same house in which his old uncle died 
in 1818, George Croghan was born on the 15th 
of November, 1791. 

As we know, George Eogers Clark was a 
brother of "William Clark, of Lewis and Clark 
fame. The elder Croghan had fought with dis- 
tinction in the War of Independence; so, what 
with his parent and his famous uncles, we may 
infer that the boy who was destined to win fame 
while still almost a stripling came naturally by 
his adventurous and daring character. 

Nor was he backward in the gentler accom- 
plishments, for he graduated from William and 
Mary College when he was eighteen, having 
shown more love and aptitude for learning than 
any of his trio of sturdy forebears. 

HoAvbeit, he sought the woods and a life of 
adventure, as so many boys did in those days, 
and he was still under age when he got himself 
mixed up with old Tippecanoe Harrison's fa- 
mous expedition against the great Indian, Te- 
cumseh, in 1811. So favorable was the impres- 
sion which the young man made on Harrison 
that the old Indian fighter made him his aide- 
de-camp. 



GEORGE CROGHAN 113 

But it was in the War of 1812 that young 
Croghan performed the deed to which we shall 
give particular attention in this tale. Though 
a military operation, the remoteness of the scene 
and the daring and romantic character of that 
achievement bring the youthful hero within the 
category of scouts, according to the rather elas- 
tic meaning which we have here given to that 
word. Indeed, if we were to confine ourselves 
to the literal definition of the word scout we 
should have to exclude some of our sturdiest 
heroes and limit ourselves solely to men who 
have gone ahead of armies to ^* scout" or obtain 
information. In this sense the Boy Scouts would 
not be scouts at all. We have inclined, there- 
fore, to a rather liberal rule of admittance into 
our galaxy and prefer to think of a scout as 
one whose exploits of whatever character, be 
they only adventurous, have been performed in 
the lonely borderland of civilization. 

In the wild country of northern Ohio, along 
the headwaters of the Sandusky River and not 
far from the shores of Lake Erie, there stood 
in those days an old Indian stockade built with 
wooden piles a dozen or more feet high and sur- 
rounded by a ditch. This ramshackle structure, 
which was dignified by the name of Fort Ste- 
phenson, was about as much like a modern fort 
as an ancient prairie stage-coach is like a modern 
twin-six. 



114 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

Fort Stephenson stood on low ground close 
to the Sandusky River, and if it held pre-emi- 
nence for any conspicuous quality, it was the 
rather dubious one (for a fort) of being an 
exceptionally good target, since it was sur- 
rounded by high hills and was quite defense- 
less against artillery. 

If we ask why a **fort'' was built in such 
a place, the answer must be that it was not 
built as a fort at all and also that artillery was 
a rare luxury in the border fighting of those 
romantic and adventurous days. 

But Fort Stephenson, such as it was, was the 
repository of valuable stores, and General Har- 
rison, who was at Seneca Falls, some miles dis- 
tant, had sent young Croghan to garrison the 
old stockade. With him were one hundred and 
sixty men, all youngsters like himself, full of 
fight and patriotism, and ready to follow their 
youthful commander to the ends of the earth. 

In July, 1813, the British General Proctor, 
with about three thousand Indians, including 
the famous chief Tecumseh and some five hun- 
dred British troops, advanced against the old 
stockade with a covetous eye upon the valuable 
stores which he knew the old chicken-coop of 
a fort contained. 

Of course. General Harrison knew what Proc- 
tor was up to, which was just to surprise and 
capture the place, then fall on his own force at 



GEORGE CROGHAN 115 

Seneca Falls, and presto, have tlie whole vast 
country of Ohio in the palm of his grasping 
hand. 

While there was yet time General Harrison 
went up to take a look at Fort Stephenson and 
see what kind of a defence it could put up against 
the attack which was imminent. 

He very promptly decided that it could not 
put up any defence at all, and he therefore 
directed young Croghan to evacuate it as soon 
as it became certain that General Proctor was 
on his way to attack it. 

Croghan was fond of his old ramshackle fort 
in the wilderness and he maintained a discreet 
silence when his superior issued this wise order. 

Shortly, the scouts whom General Harrison 
had sent out returned to Seneca Falls to inform 
him that Proctor, with his regulars and Indians, 
was on the march, and he immediately des- 
patched two messengers directing Croghan to 
lose no time in destroying the stockade and 
repairing at once to Seneca Falls. 

The adventures of these messengers would 
make a pretty good scout story in themselves. 
They were lost in the woods; they were pur- 
sued by savages, and after a hair's-breadth 
escape they made their belated way to Fort 
Stephenson and delivered General Harrison's 
mandate to young Croghan. 

The iirst thing that Croghan did after read- 



116 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

ing the message was to call his youthful com- 
panions about him and ask them if they were 
ready to stand by him in defending the fort. 
They answered with alacrity that they were, 
whereupon our young hero, who was stronger 
on courage than on discipline, sent the follow- 
ing note to General Harrison: 

*^Sir: 

I have just received yours of yesterday, ten 
o'clock P.M., ordering me to destroy this place 
and make good my retreat, which was received 
too late to be carried into execution. We have 
determined to maintain this place, and by 
Heavens, we can!" 

This was pretty good from a young man scarce 
of age to old Tippecanoe, and it would be in- 
teresting to know how the General felt when 
he read it. In any event, we know what he did. 
He sent an officer to supersede young George 
and a small band of cavalry to accompany him 
and to escort the insubordinate youth into his 
stern presence. 

The progress of this band of cavalry to Fort 
Stephenson would also make a pretty good scout 
story. It was not exactly a May walk. They 
fought their way inch by inch through hostile 
Indians, killing a dozen of them on their ardu- 
ous journey up the river, and at last, after 
numerous setbacks and a variety of adventures, 



GEOEGE CEOGHAN 117 

they slicceeded in reaching the fort, where they 
delivered Tippecanoe's mandate to his doughty 
insubordinate. 

There was nothing, of course, for Croghan to 
do but to obey, and he repaired, crestfallen, to 
headquarters. We are to suppose that he was 
quite as brave of tongue as of arm, and of a 
clever tact to boot, for he straightway explained 
to General Harrison that the defiant wording 
of his missive had been intended not for that 
stern old veteran's official eye, oh, dear, no, but 
for the perusal of the enemy, and had been in- 
tended to strike terror to the hearts of the foe. 

We may believe that General Harrison winked 
the other eye on hearing this, but it is not im- 
probable that he was impressed with young 
Croghan 's reminder that delivery of the mes- 
sage had been delayed and that the intervening 
country in the meantime had become so infested 
with hostile savages that a retreat through it 
would have been most unwise and hazardous. 
He begged that he might be allowed to hold his 
precious fort, and so fond was General Harrison 
of the enthusiastic young fellow that he forgave 
his unruly conduct and consented to his going 
back to his ramshackle old stockade to hurl de- 
fiance at the British and Indian forces. 

No schoolboy at the joyous threshold of va- 
cation time ever repaired more gaily to his 
sports than did young Croghan to his lonely, 



118 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

dilapidated fortress, where his companions, on 
hearing of his conquest of old Tippecanoe, 
greeted him with cheers and congratulations. 

He now proceeded to make ready for the de- 
fence of his beloved stronghold. There was no 
more time than was necessary, for scarcely were 
the few preparations under way when the cop- 
per-colored visage of an Indian was discovered 
peering over the wooden piles which formed the 
enclosure. 

The information which this savage scout se- 
cured was not destined to be carried far, for 
the trusty rifle of one of Croghan's companions 
from Kentucky toppled him over, as rifles from 
Kentucky were pretty certain to do, and *Hhe 
subsequent proceedings interested him no more." 

Other venturesome Indians met with the same 
fate, and it was soon decided that this kind of 
spying w^as not a safe game. 

A number of red men then assembled at the 
edge of the clearing in which the fort stood, 
but these were presently dispersed by ** Mistress 
Bess," a lonely cannon which was the pride and 
delight of the youthful commander and his com- 
rades. 

Very soon things began to happen in earnest. 
Late in the afternoon the barges of the British 
appeared around a bend in the river and as soon 
as the troops had disembarked they opened fire 
on the fort with a six-inch howitzer. 



GEORGE CROGHAN 119 

** Mistress Bess/' however, was not to be 
tempted into an untimely response. Instead, 
young Croghan and his redoubtable s hauled her 
from one port-hole to another, poking her nose 
through each in order to create the impression 
that there was a gun in every port-hole! Oc- 
casionally they let her rip in order to give ar- 
tistic finish to the ruse. 

The enemy, British and Indians, gathered 
about the old stockade, numbered considerably 
more than a thousand — ten times the number 
of men under Croghan. They were amply 
equipped with artillery against the one poor, 
wandering gun of the defenders. We know of 
no instance in frontier history where an at- 
tempt has been made to defend a fort or a 
position with such a preposterous disparity in 
numbers and equipment, unless it was the tragic 
defence of the Alamo by the intrepid Davy 
Crockett. 

To the besiegers there was, of course, not the 
slightest doubt as to the issue. General Proc- 
tor expected to take the fort much as he would 
have picked a raspberry. He, therefore, sent 
three of his officers, Colonel Elliot, Major Cham- 
bers and Captain Dixon, with a white flag, to 
demand that the fort be immediately surren- 
dered. 

A parley ensued near the stockade between 
these worthies and young Edmund Shipp, aged 



120 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

nineteen, who had been sent out by Croghan. 
Young George himself watched this interesting 
meeting from the rampart and interrupted the 
conversation by one pithy observation, as we 
shall see. 

The parley, as reported, was as follows: 

Colonel Elliot: I demand the instant surrender 
of the fort, to spare the effusion of blood, which 
we cannot do, should Ave be under the necessity 
of reducing it by our powerful force of regulars, 
Indians and artillery. 

Ensign Shipp: My commandant and the gar- 
rison are determined to defend the post to the 
last extremity and bury themselves in its ruins 
rather than surrender it to any force whatever. 

Captain Dixon: Look at our immense body of 
Indians. 

Ensign Shipp: I see them. 

Captain Dixon: They cannot be restrained 
from massacring the whole garrison in the event 
of our undoubted success. 

Major Chambers: Our success is certain. 

Ensign Shipp: Is it? 

Colonel Elliot: You appear to be a fine young 
man. I pity your situation. 

Ensign Shipp: Do you? 

Colonel Elliot: For God's sake, urge the sur- 
render of the fort and prevent the slaughter 
which must follow resistance should you fall into 
the hands of the savages. 



GEOEGE CROGHAN 121 

Captain Dixon: It is a pity so fine a young 
man as your commander is said to be should 
fall into the hands of the savages. Young 
man, for God's sake surrender and prevent the 
dreadful massacre that will be caused by your 
resistance. 

Ensign SJiipp: When the fort is taken there 
will be none to massacre. 

Captain Dixon: Think well, young man. 

George Croglian (from the rampart) : Come 
inside, Shipp, and we'll blow 'em all to Hell! 

As Ensign Shipp turned, an Indian sprang 
from the bushes and seized him, but Captain 
Dixon instantly stepped forward and released 
him from the savage's hold. The Captain then 
explained again how impossible it was to con- 
trol the Indians and repeated his warning of 
a massacre. 

Croghan, standing upon the rampart, disdain- 
fully regarded this whole incident as a put-up 
job designed to intimidate his ensign. If such 
it Vv^as, it did not succeed, and thus ended the 
interesting but fruitless parley. 

The besiegers now began a lively bombard- 
ment with five six-pounders which they had con- 
cealed among the bushes on the neighboring hill. 
That night the boys in the fort hauled their old 
cannon to the block-house in the northwest cor- 
ner, where, with the greatest difficulty, they suc- 
ceeded in hoisting it upon the wall in such a 



122 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

position that it commanded tlie stretch of ditch 
where they had reason to believe the enemy 
wonld concentrate their attack in the morning. 
The muzzle of '^ Mistress Bess" was effectually 
concealed so as to afford the besiegers no ink- 
ling of her position. In the morning they gave 
her a furlough while they busied themselves 
with the agreeable occupation of picking off 
Indians who appeared from under cover. 

Meanwhile, others were hurrying to and from 
the storehouse carrying bags of sand to strength- 
en the northwest corner, against which the enemy 
had already opened their batteries and were 
keeping up a relentless fire. 

A little before sunset a storming party was 
discovered advancing through the woods. Even 
as they approached, the clouds which had been 
gathering ominously for an hour or more, mur- 
muring their portentous threats in continuous 
low rumblings, burst in a torrent and the fading 
daylight was illuminated with dazzling streaks 
of lightning, while the earth seemed to tremble 
with the mounting voice of the thunder as the 
furious storm increased, uprooting trees and 
working havoc in the whole wild place. 

On through rain and wind and gathering dark- 
ness came the storming party, their advance con- 
cealed by the thick and pungent smoke of smudge 
fires, augmented by the heavy downpour and 



GEOEGE CEOGHAN 123 

borne toward the old stockade by tbe furious 
wind. 

It seemed, indeed, tliat Nature had come like 
an ally with strong reinforcements to help over- 
whelm that little band of youngsters who were 
maintaining their hopeless cause so gallantly. 

Meanwhile the one lonely old cannon, hidden 
on the block-house, held its peace amid the din 
and tumult. 

Suddenly those in the fort could discern 
streaks of red close by amid the smoke — the 
uniforms of George the Third, and here and 
there a savage form peering out of the dark- 
ness. 

The stormers were now greeted with a well- 
aimed rifle volley from the port-holes, which 
threw them into momentary confusion, but did 
not break their advance. 

On they came with fixed bayonets — silently, 
irresistibly. They were close to the ditch now 
and could be seen plainly from within the fort. 

**Come on, men!" shouted Colonel Short. 
*^We'll give the damned Yankees no quarter!" 

With this they jumped into the ditch, intend- 
ing to climb the opposite side of it, scale the 
rickety palisade and enter the fort triumphant. 

But just then something happened. Into the 
supposedly safe shelter of the ditch (which the 
stormers knew was too near the walls for suc- 
cessful rifle shot from the ports) there presently 



124 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

descended such a furious storm of slugs and 
shot as never before rained out of the iron mouth 
of George Croghan's single cannon. 

There she sat, with a clear and unobstructed 
range, upon the block-house, fully revealed now 
and with her grim muzzle pointing straight down 
into the ditch. The storming host was caught 
like rats in a trap. If Satan himself had stepped 
blithely out upon the block-house amid the wind 
and storm his appearance could hardly have 
caused greater consternation. 

In that terrific greeting to the storming party, 
which spread panic and dismay among them, 
more than fifty lost their lives and a number 
were wounded. 

Colonel Short, who had threatened to ^^give 
the Yankees no quarter," received a mortal 
wound, and as he fell back he raised a white 
rag upon his bayonet. 

Meanwhile the men who, fortunately for them, 
had not yet entered the ditch were treated to 
an incessant and effective rifle-fire from the 
ports. When they reached that fatal ditch which 
they had hoped might be the portal of their 
triumphal entry, they turned and fled while the 
frowning muzzle of the old six-pounder omi- 
nously rose and pointed in their direction. Their 
path of retreat was marked with scores who fell. 
Those who gained the shelter of the woods dis- 
creetly remained there, where their astonished 



GEOEGE CEOGHAN 125 

leaders succeeded in bringing order out of chaos ; 
but the attack was not renewed. 

For those w^ho remained in the ditch Major 
Croghan did all that he safely could do to miti- 
gate their sufferings throughout that long dread- 
ful night. Buckets of water were lowered to 
them and as soon as it could be done a way was 
made to bring them into the fort, where they 
were kindly and humanely treated. 

About thirty per cent, of Proctor's men had 
lost their lives in this most disastrous enterprise 
which had begun with so much bluster and as- 
surance. 

Major Croghan lost just exactly one man (if 
you can call him a man who was but eighteen) 
in the whole encounter. Besides this there were 
a few scratches, cuts and things — ^but nothing 
to worry about. 

The next day the attacking legion made good 
its retreat through the woods, leaving a large 
stack of munitions and provisions of which the 
valorous young men of the garrison made good 
use. 

Perhaps the most surprised person of all after 
this extraordinary defence (which it is almost 
impossible to exaggerate) vras old Tippecanoe 
Harrison, who could find no words to express 
his commendation of the young man who had 
performed this incredible exploit. *^It will not 
be the least of General Proctor's mortification," 



126 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

he said, ^Ho find that lie has been baffled by a 
yonth who has just passed his twenty-first year." 

Indeed, we may add that if this did not oc- 
casion the General sufficient chagrin he may 
have still suffered a passing blush of humilia- 
tion to reflect that all of George Croghan's of- 
ficers and most of his men were younger than 
himself. 

A troop of Boy Scouts indeed, and worthy 
of the full salute which, as every good scout 
knows, means the three first fingers of the left 
hand raised to the level of the forehead. 

So let us give the full scout salute to the 
memory of young George Croghan and his band 
of youthful patriots. 

Salute! 



DANIEL BOONE 

How he crossed the Alleghenies and explored Kentucky ; how 
he lived alone in the wilderness; how he helped found 
and defend the town of Boonsborough ; together with 
an account of his adventures with the Indians and his 
strange captivity among them, and other matters in the 
life of the great scout. 

The pen falters at the task of writing of Dan- 
iel Boone, the most romantic and best known of 
all backwoodsmen and one of the greatest of all 
scouts. 

Irresistibly there rises in the mind's eye a 
picture of the lone woodsman in his coonskin 
cap, standing, rifle in hand, in the trackless 
Kentucky wilderness. One is almost appalled 
at the romance of his career. 

His fame is great in American history, and 
justly so, for it rests not upon an isolated act 
of heroism, but upon a whole long life of in- 
domitable prowess and unceasing deeds of cour- 
age. It is difficult to write briefly of his career. 

Daniel Boone was not born in the locality with 
which his name is identified, but on a farm in 
Pennsylvania near where the city of Eeading 
now stands. His parents were Quakers and he 
was the fourth son and sixth child in a family 

127 



128 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

of eleven children. He was born on the second 
of November, in 1734. 

While still a boy, it was his delight to wander 
away into the forest, far from the hannts of 
men, and before he had passed his teens he had 
become an expert woodsman and hnnter. The 
love of nature and solitude were born in him 
and throughout his life he instinctively moved 
away from civilization. 

At eighteen he moved with his parents to the 
Yadkin Valley in the northwestern part of North 
Carolina. Why they went to North Carolina is 
not known, and although their new place of hab- 
itation seemed remote and wild enough to satisfy 
the most adventurous spirit, it did not long sat- 
isfy the migratory longing of young Daniel. 

His first venture, however, was not of an ex- 
ploratory sort, but rather matrimonial, for he 
wooed and won Eebecca Bryan, whose parents, 
like the Boones, had migrated from Pennsyl- 
vania. 

Miss Eebecca was but seventeen at the time, 
and very fair to look upon, so we are told. She 
was a true daughter of the Avilderness, and 
proved an ideal helpmate and companion for 
her restless husband, following him in all his 
wanderings. A large family of children were 
born to this pioneer pair. 

Let us pause for a brief glimpse of the fa- 
mous woodsman as he looked in his twenty-first 




DANIEL BOONE 



DANIEL BOONE 129 

year, at the time of his marriage, as given by 
a border historian: 

'* Behold that young man exhibiting such un- 
usual firmness and energy of character, five feet 
eight inches in height, with broad chest and 
shoulders, his form gradually tapering down- 
ward to his extremities; his hair moderately 
black ; blue eyes arched with yellowish eyebrows ; 
his lips thin with a mouth peculiarly wide; a 
countenance fair and ruddy, with a nose a little 
bordering on the Eoman order. Such was Dan- 
iel Boone, now past twenty-one, presenting al- 
together a noble, manly, prepossessing appear- 



Indeed, he must have presented an attractive 
picture in his fringed suit of buckskin and the 
famous coonskin cap which the world forever 
associates with him. 

For a while life in the Yadkin Valley was a life 
after Boone's own heart; a life of hunting and 
trapping and fishing, and occasional troubles with 
Indians, but in the main peaceful. In his quest 
for game he was wont to wander far from home 
and in those lonely rambles he would often pen- 
etrate the forest on the lower reaches of the 
great mountains which rose to the westward, 
now known as the Cumberlands. 

We may well suppose that now and again he 



130 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

wondered what lay beyond those rugged heights 
and the temptation must have been strong npon 
him at times to continue his quest up their 
wooded sides. 

The cabins about his own increased in num- 
ber, the few straggling frontier households be- 
came a settlement, and Boone became restive 
under these signs of advancing civilization. You 
are not to suppose that the remote Yadkin Val- 
ley became at any time a populous place, but 
a locality did not have to be populous for this 
redoubtable nomad to shun it. A dozen cabins 
or so were quite enough to drive him forth to 
pastures new. He was a pioneer rather than 
a settler and ever ready to lay aside his plow 
for his trusty rifle. The wilderness was always 
calling him and luring him, and he found it a 
dearer friend even than humankind. 

There returned one day to the little settle- 
ment a certain John Finlay, who had crossed 
the mountain barrier and explored a small sec- 
tion of what is now Kentucky. His accounts 
of the mysterious land which lay beyond the 
hills (notwithstanding that he had explored but 
a very small corner of it) filled the young men 
of the settlement with enthusiasm and he found 
a ready listener in young Daniel Boone. This 
was in 1767, or thereabouts. 

It is by no means certain that Boone had not 
already crossed the mountain himself, for on an 



DANIEL BOONE 131 

old tree in Washington County, Tennessee, is 
an inscription which reads: 

B. Boone cilled a har on tree in the year 1760. 

It is not nnlikely that Boone ^* cilled a bar" 
west of the Cnmberlands some seven years be- 
fore the return of Finlay, although there is no 
other than this rough record to testify to such 
a trip. In any event, Finlay 's alluring tale of 
the wonderful forests teeming with game and 
rich in every variety of natural beauty found 
young Boone in a susceptible mood and he 
headed a party of six adventurous young men 
who resolved to explore that vast tract of **no 
man's land" which is now the Blue Grass State 
of Kentucky. 

Crossing the Alleghenies in June, 1767, they 
gazed in wonder and delight at the prospect 
which lay spread before them, for indeed there 
is scarcely a more beautiful view in all our land 
than the panorama which lay below them. 

Descending the trackless face of the moun- 
tains, and pressing through the wild tangles of 
the land beyond, they spent six months in hunt- 
ing and exploring, finding the region a veritable 
hunter's paradise. 

In order that their explorations might be the 
more thorough, they divided into two parties, 
one of which consisted of Boone and a young 
man named Stewart. 



132 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

The experiences of these two would fill a book. 
They hnnted, explored the rivers, were captured 
by Indians, escaped, and after many perilous 
vicissitudes found their way to the camp of their 
companions. This in itself would have been a 
miracle for any one but Daniel Boone. As a 
tracker and woodsman his equal has probably 
never lived. 

Not a sign was there of the other party and 
from that day to this the world does not know 
what became of them. They were never seen 
or heard of again. 

Boone and Stewart continued their hunting 
until early winter and had about determined to 
recross the mountains and journey homeward 
when they saw one day in the forest two men 
who, as they approached, proved to be Daniel's 
brother. Squire, and a companion who were 
searching for them. The coincidence of this 
meeting in that vast wilderness was nothing less 
than miraculous. 

Squire Boone brought good reports of the 
family back in the Yadkin and the four men 
resolved to spend another winter in the Ken- 
tucky wilderness. Before very long Stewart w^as 
killed by the Indians and Squire's companion, 
wandering oif alone to hunt, never returned. His 
fate also remains a mystery. 

The two brothers hunted together until spring 
when Squire returned to North Carolina for 



DANIEL BOONE 133 

supplies, leaving Daniel alone in that vast, track- 
less wilderness. 

Those lonely months, which the intrepid hunter 
and woodsman spent with no companion but his 
gun constitute, perhaps, the most striking and 
heroic episode of his whole life. There was the 
true Daniel Boone in all his romantic greatness! 

In the early summer his brother returned and 
they met at an appointed spot. From July, 1770, 
to March, 1771, they hunted and explored and 
finally hit upon a spot along the Kentucky River 
where they decided a permanent settlement 
should be made — though, alas, no settlement 
could be permanent for Daniel Boone. He had 
been absent from his home for more than two 
years and the brothers now set forth, with a 
goodly store of peltries, for the Yadkin Valley. 

Eeaching their home no time was lost in 
making preparations for the migration into the 
promised land. In September, 1773, the little 
caravan, consisting of the Boone family and sev- 
eral others, set off on its journey across the 
mountains. But misfortune befell the pioneers, 
one of Boone's sons was killed by the Indians, 
and the party, greatly disheartened, settled in 
western Virginia, much to Boone's disappoint- 
ment. 

In time, however, the vicissitudes of his life 
were to take him again into Kentucky. In 1775, 
he was engaged to lead a party into the land 



134 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

which he loved so well and to bnild a fort in 
the country between the Kentucky and Cumber- 
land Kivers, where a proprietary company had 
secured a vast tract of land. It was purposed 
to make the fort the headquarters of the com- 
pany and around it grew up the famous settleT. 
ment of Boonsborough, fittingly named in honor 
of the leader and moving spirit of the adven- 
turous pioneers who settled there. 

When the fort was finished Boone brought 
his good wife and their children to this new 
home; other families soon followed, and so be- 
gan the settlement of Kentucky in the first year 
of the War of Independence. 

We cannot, in so small a compass, attempt a 
detailed history of this community in the wilder- 
ness. In time, other settlements were started 
here and there and the enterprise thrived. 

Owing to the depredations of the Indians, the 
settlers found it futile to attempt agriculture 
save on the smallest scale;- they must needs de- 
pend much upon the prowess and sure aim of 
Daniel Boone for their food supplies, and the 
redoubtable hunter and trapper did not disap- 
point them. It is doubtful, indeed, if any record 
for hunting and marksmanship can be mentioned 
in the same breath with his, unless it be the spe- 
cialized record of William F. Cody's amazing 
buffalo hunts. We cannot but infer that the 
little settlement of Boonsborough depended, at 



DANIEL BOONE 135 

times, almost exclusively upon its resourceful 
leader, who knew the forest as the Puritan knew 
his catechism. 

At one time Boone's daughter, Jemima, and 
two girl companions were captured by the In- 
dians. Jemima, though but fourteen, must have 
been not only a true daughter of her father but 
a true child of the forest, for she insisted on 
blazing the trees as she was carried along and 
when deterred from this she tore her dress, 
dropping pieces along the forest trail. 

On finding that the girls were missing, Boone 
formed a small rescue party and they were not 
long in picking up the trail. On the second day 
they came upon the camp of the Indians and 
were much perplexed for a means of rescuing 
the girls before the surprised savages had a 
chance to kill them. 

Creeping stealthily, Boone and one companion 
approached, undiscovered, to within a few yards 
of the camp. Then, as the other members of 
the party opened fire, the two rushed into the 
camp and, placing themselves between the fright- 
ened captives and the astonished savages, shot 
the latter one by one. Some fled and escaped, 
but the girls were saved. 

This particular adventure was destined to have 
a very happy ending, for shortly thereafter, Eliz- 
abeth Calloway, one of the rescued girls, married 
the young man who had been Boone's companion 



136 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

in surprising the savages. This is said to have 
been the first marriage ceremony performed in 
Kentucky. 

Boone's encounters with the Indians were alto- 
gether too many to enumerate. He was captured 
time and again, escaped time and again, came 
near to being scalped, and resorted to every ruse 
and subterfuge which long familiarity with the 
w^oods and the savages had taught him. He was 
a marvel not only of prowess but of cunning, and 
it would require a volume to tell in full the story 
of his deeds and adventures. 

One memorable instance of his being captured, 
however, must be told, because of its relation 
to events which folloAved. While hunting he was 
surprised by a large band of Indians and made 
captive along with several companions. 

On learning that his captors were on their way 
to attack Boonsborough he told them that he had 
wearied of the settlement, quarreled with the 
people, and intended not to return there. He 
represented that Boonsborough had ample de- 
fences, that many new settlers had lately arrived, 
and that an attack upon the fort would prove 
a very perilous enterprise. 

In plain truth, the place was all but defence- 
less without Boone and his companions, but the 
Indians were greatly impressed with his convinc- 
ing representations and, deciding that discretion 
was the better part of valor, retraced their way 



DANIEL BOONE 137 

to their own village, contenting themselves with 
the captives they had made. Tims Boone sacri- 
ficed himself to save Boonsborough. 

The singular story of his long detention among 
these Sha^vnee savages would fill a book. His 
companions were distribnted among other tribes 
and he had no further tidings of them. He be- 
came a great favorite of the chief, Black Fish, 
who liked him so much that he went through the 
ceremony of adopting him, giving him the name 
of ^^Big Turtle.'' 

Big Turtle kept a weather eye upon his 
hospitable captors and soon perceived that in 
conjunction with other tribes they were making 
elaborate preparations for a great attack upon 
Boonsborough. 

The name of Big Turtle was a singularly in- 
appropriate one for so wily and fleet a prisoner 
as Boone, as the genial Black Fish was presently 
to learn, for when the captive had become thor- 
oughly acquainted with their plans he disap- 
peared, much to the consternation of his guards, 
and hit the trail for his beloved Boonsborough. 

Again the story of his one hundred and fifty 
mile journey homeward would make a sizable 
volume. He had but one meal on the way; he 
crossed the swift and turbulent Ohio in a ram- 
shackle canoe left on the shore by Indians, and 
finally, by hook and crook, he reached the set- 
tlement, where he was greeted as one risen from 



138 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

the dead. His wife and children, supposing him 
killed, had gone back to their old home in the 
Yadkin. 

It is a shame to crowd the famons defence 
of Boonsborongh into a few words. Indeed, 
Daniel Boone, whether in type or in life, re- 
quired space. The whole Kentucky mlderness 
was not big enough for him, and even his hum- 
ble biographer must needs have plenty of elbow 
room. 

You may suppose that the forest fort became 
at once the scene of feverish activity, of which 
Boone was the leading spirit. The Indians soon 
advanced, and to check and discourage them 
Boone with a small party sallied forth, surprised 
an isolated band, and drove them back. 

But the main body came on apace under the 
redoubtable leadership of Black Fish, who, we 
may suppose, was deeply chagrined and wound- 
ed at the base ingratitude of his foster son. 
Black Turtle, who now awaited his coming 
within the hastily strengthened stockade. 

Upon the arrival of the savage host some very 
nice diplomatic intercourse took place. They de- 
manded the surrender of the fort, and Boone, 
who was not yet satisfied with the preparations 
for defence, asked for two days in which to con- 
sider the demand. The preparations were con- 
tinued in feverish haste and at the end of the 
two days Boone advised the besiegers that he 



DANIEL BOONE 139 

had not, and never had had, any intention of 
surrendering. 

Black Fish was no match for Big Turtle in 
the arts of diplomacy. 

The Indians then suggested a parley, which 
was granted, and, upon their attempted treach- 
ery in trying to overpower the members of the 
council, all pretense ended and a lively firing 
began. 

From the walls of the stockade Boone and 
his companions poured volley after volley among 
the besieging host. The women within the fort 
moulded bullets and few that left Boone's rifle 
were wasted. The fight became furious. Eeal- 
izing the hopelessness of their attack in the face 
of the white men's sure aim, the Indians at 
length set fire to the fort, but a timely shower 
extinguished the flames. 

At last, having suffered a very heavy loss, 
the disheartened savages withdrew. Boone and 
his companions had put up a gallant defense, 
losing but two of their number. This was the 
end of Black Fish's ambitious designs against 
Boonsborough, for he doubtless felt that as long 
as his whilom protege was there attack would 
be useless. 

Be this as it might, Big Turtle presently 
started for North Carolina with the intention 
of convincing his family that he was not dead. 
We are not permitted a glimpse of their joy- 



140 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

ous consternation at beholding him alive and 
well; but in any event they accompanied him 
back to Boonsborough, which was now begin- 
ning to be quite a community. The old woods- 
man contemplated the new cabins, not without 
a pang of regret, and a growing longing for the 
old solitude beset him. 

Soon with his family he again penetrated the 
forest, crossed the Kentucky River, selected a 
wild spot remote from human intercourse, and 
settled down once more to the lonely pioneer 
life which he loved so well. 

In 1782, while he was visiting Boonsborough, 
a messenger rode into town one day with the 
news that the Indians were attacking Bryan's 
Station, a small place some miles to the west- 
ward. 

A rescue party, including Boone, was imme- 
diately formed, but when they reached Bryan's 
Station they found that the Indians had gone 
away after a stout resistance by the settlers. 

Notwithstanding the heroic repulse of the sav- 
ages, it was resolved that they should not escape 
without further punishment, and the question 
arose v/hether the rescue party should wait for 
reinforcements from the country round about 
or trail the retreating red men without delay. 

Unfortunately, the latter course was decided 
upon, and they came upon the savages safely 
ambushed in a wild hilly region beyond the river. 



DANIEL BOONE 141 

It would have been well if the party had 
accepted the councils of Boone, who knew the 
country thoroughly and understood perfectly the 
great advantage which the Indians had in their 
lurking place. He advised that they pause Avhere 
they were and wait for reinforcements; but a 
certain hair-brained dare-devil among them, 
named McGary, started suddenly to ford the 
stream, calling upon all who were not cowards 
to follow him. 

Impetuously they crossed after, him, and, as 
might have been expected, there presently fol- 
lowed a bloody hand-to-hand struggle between 
them, and a company of Indians greatly out- 
numbering them. The white men, having dis- 
charged their rifles, were forced to light with 
the butt ends against the frantic tomahawk as- 
saults of their yelling assailants. 

In the bloody conflict Boone found himself 
apart from his comrades, fighting frantically 
with his clubbed gun and hunting-knife. His 
son, Isaac, had been mortally wounded and lay 
dying near him. He lifted the boy in his arms 
and, battling desperately, he succeeded in elud- 
ing the Indians and reached a deep ravine, 
where, in a 'rocky glen, he tenderly laid the 
body in which life was now extinct. Then he 
made his way back and crossed the river, fight- 
ing desperately. 

The Indians paid dearly for their bloody vie- 



142 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

tory, and Daniel Boone was among those who 
later devastated their country and wreaked snch 
vengeance npon them as to leave the settlements 
of Kentucky safe from further molestation. 

The last battle of the War of Independence 
had been fought and Boone was now nearly fifty 
years old — still rugged and indomitable. He was 
gromng old as an oak grows old. 

Some eleven years later he migrated again, this 
time into the wild country of Missouri, where he 
resumed his old life of hunting. Here, in the 
frontier cabin, in the full enjoyment of the soli- 
tude and wildness which they loved, his good 
wife died in the year 1813; but the rugged old 
pioneer was still surrounded by his children and 
grand-children, and his trusty rifle remained his 
constant friend. 

When Lewis and Clark passed through the 
Missouri country in 1804 on their memorable 
expedition to the Pacific they came upon an old 
man in the w^oods who wore a coonskin cap and 
an ancient suit of buckskin. It was Daniel Boone. 

He lived to be eighty-six years old, ranging 
his beloved forest almost to the very end. The 
wilderness withheld none of its secrets from 
him, but imparted to him the blessings which 
only its dim grandeur and solemn dignity can 
give — the blessings of health, serenity and peace. 

The old pioneer died on the twenty-third of 
September, 1820. Twenty-five years later the 



DANIEL BOONE 143 

Blue Grass State claimed the ashes of her fa- 
vorite son and the mortal remains of Daniel 
Boone and those of his Avife were brought back 
to Kentucky, with which state his name is for- 
ever associated, and whose wondrous hills and 
silent forests and winding rivers he had been 
the first to explore. 



FRANCIS MAEION 

How lie fought the Cherokees; how he helped to build the 
palmetto fort; how he formed his singular brigade and 
what they did, together with other particulars in the 
adventurous life of the "Swamp Fox." 

We come now to a scout who was neither a 
land scout nor a water scout, but a swamp scout, 
the very mention of whose name suggests gloomy, 
impenetrable marshes, dank underbrush and dim 
recesses redolent with the pungent odor of trop- 
ical foliage. 

For these were the haunts of Francis Marion. 
If he had one pre-eminent quality it was the 
quality of elusiveness. He did not escape, he 
did not hide, in the ordinary sense; he disap- 
peared ; and all the resources of man and all his 
tracking and trailing lore could not find him. 

He was a sort of Robin Hood of the morass; 
and, like that redoubtable outlaw of the ancient 
greenwood, he had his company of merry men. 

Francis Marion was born in South Carolina 
in 1732, the same year in which George Wash- 
ington was born. He was of Huguenot descent, 
and his grandfathers had been forced to flee and 
hide from the persecution of Louis XIV so often 

144 



FRANCIS MARION 145 

that it is no wonder if the elusive habit became 
fixed in the family and burst forth in young 
Francis as a veritable art. 

Yvhen young Marion was sixteen years of age 
he went to sea in a small vessel bound for the 
"West Indies. The ship was wrecked and its crew 
drifted for days in a small boat without food or 
water. Two of them starved to death. The 
others were finally rescued and Francis Marion 
never went to sea again. 

When he was twenty-three years old his father 
died and upon the young man fell the duty of 
supporting his mother. They moved to a place 
in South Carolina known as Pond Bluff, where 
he made his home for the remainder of his life. 
The estate is still called Marion's Plantation 
and lies within cannon shot of the old battle- 
field of Eutaw Springs. 

It would be difficult to exaggerate the depth 
and gloom of the uninhabited lowlands of South 
Carolina in those early days. The dim forest, 
upon the edge of which stood his home, extend- 
ed far to the westward and down into dripping 
swamps and treacherous glades. There were no 
paths or trails there and none knew the secrets 
of that tangled morass. There the lazy mud 
turtle and the treacherous snake basked, stupid 
and unmolested ; the swamp fox stole about amid 
the dank undergrowth, torpid lizards and un- 
canny birds perched on slimy rock or drooping 



146 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

limb, and none disturbed them in their chosen 
haunts. 

Bnt there was one man who came to know 
every nook and recess of that dim, damp wilder- 
ness. This was Francis Marion, and they called 
him the Swamp Fox of South Carolina. 

His frame was slight and supple ; he was agile 
as a panther; he could run like a deer. Sleep 
was a superfluous and troublesome thing of 
which he seldom thought. He could go for days 
without food. He was wont to issue forth at 
night like a bat and perform his amazing feats. 
In the War of Independence he conducted many 
raids, yet such was the lightning rapidity and 
marvelous elusiveness of the man that many of 
the British believed to the very end that no such 
person as Francis Marion really existed. Many 
an English child in the eighteenth century heard 
of him along with St. Nicholas and Jack Frost 
and Father Time and other renowned worthies 
who have never been actually seen in the flesh. 

When Marion was twenty-seven years old a 
report reached the colony that the Cherokee In- 
dians were massacring the settlers along the 
Western frontier. Tales of horror came from 
the pioneers of midnight raids, of kidnappings, 
murderings and scalpings. 

Presently it became kno^\Ti that this bloody 
tribe was mustering its braves to deal a mighty 
blow to the colonists. 



FRANCIS MAEION 147 

Assembling a little army of volunteers, Fran- 
cis Marion made ready to pursue and attack the 
warlike Cherokees, but lie was doom^ed, just then, 
to disappointment. Tlie wily Indians, perceiving 
these ominous preparations, decided that discre- 
tion was the better part of valor, and peace 
reigned in the colony for two years more. 

Then the storm which had been brewing burst 
in all its fury; the savages made the nights hor- 
rible with their war-whoops and murderous raids, 
and there followed a brief but sanguinary war. 

Marion flew to the governor to offer his serv- 
ices, which were promptly accepted, for his 
knowledge of the woods and the Indian country 
made his presence as a scout and leader of 
inestimable value. He was made a lieutenant 
under a man who afterwards, like himself, be- 
came famous — the gallant Captain Moultrie. 

A miscellaneous army of about two thousand 
men was soon pushing its way through the wil- 
derness to the homes of the suffering pioneers. 
It must have been an odd-looking host; some 
of the men were clad in the gorgeous uniform 
of George III, and some wore no uniforms at 
all. 

Through tangled brush and treacherous mo- 
rass they pressed on until they reached a deep 
gorge between two mountains which formed the 
only pass into the land of the red men. 

At this point Marion was chosen to lead a 



148 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

small party forward and explore the dangerous 
path. Suddenly, as he reached the entrance of 
a long ravine, wild shrieks were heard and a 
storm of bullets and arrows came whizzing 
among them. 

Twenty-one of Marion's men fell dead. Then 
from behind rocks and trees rose scores of 
painted savages, pursuing the survivors back 
to the main army which was following. 

The next morning the sun broke upon a fright- 
ful scene. The Indians Avere defending the pass 
which led into their country and the whites, 
fighting every inch of their way, were slowly 
pressing them back. 

In this desperate fighting Marion was always 
in the lead and at almost every shot fired from 
his well-aimed rifle some yelling savage dropped 
from rock or cliff. 

The red men fought like maniacs, but at last 
the whites cut their way through the bloody pass 
and entered the land of the Cherokees. 

The pride and power of this warlike tribe was 
at last broken and their murderous depredations 
were at an end. Broken-spirited, they became 
wanderers over the land. Some cast their lots 
with other tribes in the Far North, but most of 
them fell to begging from place to place among 
the prosperous settlements along the shore. 
Thus, and largely through the prowess of young 
Marion, ended the mighty tribe of Cherokees. 



FEANCIS MAEION 149 

One more episode must be told of the days 
before Francis Marion became the *^ Swamp 
Fox.'' The crushing of the Cherokees was fol- 
lowed by sixteen years of peace for the daring 
young fighter. Then the news of the Battle of 
Lexington reached the southern colonies. 

Instantly young Marion was in the saddle, and 
flying from town to town gathering recruits 
for the regiment which he had now determined to 
form. 

At this time it was kno^vn that the British 
general, Sir Henry Clinton, was on his way to 
Charleston with a fleet to attack the city. Not 
far from the mainland was a small piece of land 
known as Sullivan's Island, and here Marion 
with his hastily recruited band started to erect 
a fort. 

They built it of palmetto trees and plastered 
it with mud. It must have been an odd sort of 
defence. They called it after General Moultrie 
because he was in chief command there. It was 
soft and yielding and shook with every passing 
wind. The arrogant General Lee, who had ar- 
rived in Charleston, laughed at it and said it was 
no defence at all. But, like the tall and slender 
buUrush in the gale, it bent and swayed but did 
not break. 

While these preparations were gomg on Ma- 
rion was made a Major-General. 

It was an enthusiastic band of men that worked 



150 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

upon this odd makesliift fort and scarcely was 
it finished when the cry arose: 

'^ A fleet! A fleet!" 

It was indeed Clinton, the British general, and 
the little army prepared to defend its strong- 
hold. As soon as the ships were close enough 
a terrific fire was opened upon the little fort. 
Marion himself called it the battle of David and 
Goliath. The little fortress, shaking with the 
shock of her cannons, hurled a storm of iron 
curses at the approaching foe. The flag was shot 
down, but one of Marion's men raised it aloft 
and there it stayed throughout the rest of that 
glorious day, until the British fleet raised an- 
chor and stole away with a hundred wounded 
and more than fifty dead. 

That was the end of Marion's career as a 
soldier in the ordinary sense. Thereafter he 
was to be unique — even among scouts and raid- 
ers. He gathered about him a miscellaneous 
company of kindred spirits, woodsmen and ad- 
venturers, who, though abounding in patriotism, 
loved fighting and adventure for their own sweet 
sake. 

This haphazard band was known as Marion's 
Brigade; but they came no nearer to being a 
brigade, as we understand that military term, 
than the followers of Robin Hood were a bri- 
gade. They must have been a motley crew in 
their combination of homespun and tattered 



FEANCIS MAEION 151 

finery, wliich. we are told their redoubtable leader 
wore with such a fine air as greatly to shock 
the dignified General Gates, who arrived in the 
South to conduct military operations there. 
Some of them had no uniforms at all, others 
had no arms, but there was one valuable asset 
which they all had — particularly the wily leader. 
They knew the forest through and through, and 
the tangled, impenetrable marshes in which they 
made their homes. 

The first thing that Marion did was to sack 
the saA\Tiiills of the neighborhood in order to get 
steel for his weapons. We are not told whether 
they used buzz-saws in the game of hide-and-seek 
which they played, but we know that they pro- 
cured a number of hand-saws which they ham- 
mered into rough swords. 

Eiding forth through swamp and forest, they 
crossed the Pedee Eiver, where they found a 
body of Tories encamped. These were greatly 
surprised (as parties attacked by Marion usually 
were) and they retreated after losing a captain 
and several soldiers. None of Marion's men 
were killed, and they rode gaily forth again into 
the dense forest. 

Not far away they descended upon another 
camp. Marion had left some of his little band 
in ambush, and he pretended to retreat from the 
enemy until he had drawn them well out of their 
stronghold into the woods, then he suddenly sum- 



152 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

moned his ambushed men, defeated the enemy 
and disappeared. An expedition was formed to 
trace him and capture him. One of the British 
officers nearly lost his life in quicksand, and at 
length the party returned, drenched, bedraggled 
and weary — ^but without their captive. 

Not long after this Marion and his followers 
rode to the Upper Santee, where a rumor reached 
them that Gates had been defeated by Cornwal- 
lis. Learning that a strong British guard was 
approaching with some prisoners, Marion waited, 
fell upon the British, routed them, freed the 
prisoners and disappeared. 

Cornwallis ordered Marion's * immediate pun- 
ishment." But you must catch your goose be- 
fore you can kill him ; and Marion was not to be 
caught. 

He had, in fact, turned south toward the 
swamps and forests which he knew so well. 
The journey was full of excitement. His men 
worshipped him and loved the adventurous 
game they were playing. He broke up meetings 
of British loyalists, destroyed recruiting parties, 
intercepted communications, and spread terror 
everywhere. He would arrive^ unexpectedly in 
the darkness, do his work like lightning, and be 
gone. 

It was a new kind of warfare, all his own. 
Often when the little party disappeared within 
the morass they would disband, trailing their 



FRANCIS MARION 153 

way separately, and reuniting at some distant 
point. 

The British Colonel Tarleton was very anxious 
to catch the wily Marion. With high hopes he 
set out for the reported hiding-place of the band. 
Marion learned of his coming, concealed some 
of his men, lured the unsuspecting Tarleton into 
a pestilent thicket, summoned his men forth at 
the proper moment, beat the British unmerci- 
fully and left them to pick their way back into 
the world again as best they could. Tarleton 
was greatly chagrined. He scarcely realized 
what had happened to him until it was over. 

Then Marion started north again. He rode 
night and day, finally pitching his camp near 
the head of the Waccamaw River. Here, in the 
deep forest, the hungry little party sat doAvn 
to dine. Seated on fallen trees and on the 
ground, they made their simple meal of sweet 
potatoes and hominy. We are told that they 
were wont to beguile the time on such occasions 
by telling stories, though surely no story which 
they told could have been more romantic than 
the tale of their own experiences. 

At last, in 1780, the British resolved that this 
troublesome band of men must be captured; 
there must be no more half-way measures. 

Marion was at that time located on a small 
piece of land called Snow's Island, which was 
surrounded by marsh. 



154 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

An expedition was formed to dislodge him 
from this stronghold. He waited until the ex- 
peditionary party was well within the forest 
lowlands. Then he sallied forth and met it in 
a dismal swamp. A short conflict followed and 
Marion retreated. He always knew when to 
retreat. 

The next day the battle was continued at an- 
other spot not far distant and the British lost 
rapidly. The faultless aim of Marion's rangers 
brought down some redcoats with every shot. 

At last the British commander sent a note to 
Marion complaining of his mode of warfare and 
urging him to come out in the open and fight. 
The following day Marion did so and beat the 
enemy thoroughly. 

Then he disappeared again within the forest. 
Where had he gone? No one knew. Somewhere 
in that vast, solemn wilderness he and his merry 
men were gathered about their cheerful camp- 
fire; but none could trail them, for their remote 
haunts were amid the swampy fastnesses where 
there were no tracks or trails. 

The British commander was well-nigh insane. 
On account of this troublesome and elusive little 
band he was compelled to establish a line of 
fortified posts extending all about the southern 
colonies. 

Once, as Marion's men were crossing a bridge 
they heard an alarm gun from a British camp. 



FEANCIS MAEION 155 

They galloped over, reached the main road, 
and there dismounted. Marion ordered a few 
picked men to attack the old house near by where 
the enemy was posted. Another detachment w^as 
sent to the right and a band of horsemen to the 
left. Marion quickly followed with a small re- 
serve. The British were defeated and the *^fort" 
taken. 

Marion and his men then rode to Williams- 
burgh, where they obtained tidings of other gath- 
erings of British near the Black Eiver. One of 
these was reported to be very well supplied with 
muskets and ammunition, and Marion cast a 
longing eye upon these stores. 

At midnight he rode into the camp. The red- 
coats were playing cards and feasting when the 
little band fell like a bolt from Heaven among 
them. Marion succeeded in completely annihi- 
lating them, procured the stores, and was off 
again to the swamps. 

At the news of this attack, Tarleton arose 
from his sick-bed, resolved to crush, once and 
forever, this obstreperous little band. He set 
out with a goodly array and Marion, as usual, 
retreated into the everglades. Tarleton advanced 
boldly into the swamp to overtake him, but could 
not find him. Through bogs and tangled, drip- 
ping underbrush he pushed his way, but Marion 
was nowhere to be found. 

At length Tarleton, weary and discouraged and 



156 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

perishing with thirst and hunger, turned to his 
followers and said: 

*^Come, my boys, let us go back. We can 
soon find that gamecock, Sumpter. But as for 
this damned swamp-fox, why, the devil himself 
couldn't catch him!" 

And at that very moment the ^^ Swamp Fox" 
with his adventurous brigade was scarce a mile 
distant ! 

Such was the career of Francis Marion — 
unique among woodsmen, pathfinders, scouts 
and soldiers. 

After the war he returned to his quiet home. 
The old place had been sadly treated by the 
British, who, being unable to find the ** Swamp 
Fox," had taken vengeance on his estate. 

During his declining years the old raider, who 
was a bachelor, met a fair lady named Mary 
Videau, who, like himself, was of Huguenot an- 
cestry. They were married and his last days 
were spent in simple happiness. He was greatly 
loved by all living round about, and his name 
was spoken always with reverence and aifection. 

In his last moments he was able to say, ^^I 
thank God that I can lay my hand on my heart 
and say that I have never intentionally done 
wrong to any." 



SAMUEL BRADY, EANGEE 

How he narrowly escaped burning at the stake; how he made 
a famous leap, and how his life was saved by a gentle 
pond-lily. Also the singular account of how he stuffed 
a horse; how he attended an Indian council in mas- 
querade; how he rescued Jenny Stripes and why he 
tomahawked her little dog; together with other partic- 
ulars in the career of the man who was said to be the 
original of Cooper's "Leather Stocking." 

This is the story of a red-headed scout who 
came of a red-headed family which, as every 
boy knows, means spunk, recklessness, and dar- 
ing. If there is any question as to this we have 
only to narrate that Samuel Brady's father, 
James, was one of the very few survivors of 
his regiment in the Battle of the Brandywme 
and was severely wounded. Shortly after the 
war he was killed by the Indians. 

James Brady's brother John was also wounded 
at the Brandywine. Samuel's brother James, 
whose hair was also red, but exceedingly long, 
being surprised one day by the savages, ran for 
his gun, procured it, shot an Indian, ran for 
another gun, shot another Indian, was at last 
overpowered, tomahawked and scalped. 

All the male members of the Brady family 
157 



158 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

were six feet tall or more, most of them had 
red hair, and all of them, to the second line re- 
moved, were fighters. 

But compared with Samnel Brady, chief of 
the Eangers, they were as the other planets are 
to Jupiter. 

Samnel Brady was the Daniel Boone of west- 
ern Pennsylvania, and his authenticated adven- 
tures, I should warn you, read like extravagant 
fiction. 

He was more than a scout, he was more than 
a ranger; he was a character. 

One or two of his exploits have an Arabian 
Nights flavor, but history presents its records 
to confirm them, and so far as Samuel's own 
veracity may be called into question, he was 
deeply religious, a great student of the Bible, a 
very stickler for righteousness and truthfulness. 

He was born in the year 1756 and was one 
of thirteen children, eight of whom were boys. 
Three of these died while still young and all 
of the remaining five were soldiers, either in 
the Eevolution or in the War of 1812. 

When the War of Independence broke out, 
young Samuel, being then nineteen years of age, 
enlisted and fought gallantly in the engage- 
ments near Boston, the Battle of Long Island, 
the Battle of White Plains, the Battle of Ger- 
mantown, and, as if this were not enough, he 
barely escaped with his life at the terrible mas- 



SAMUEL BRADY, EANGER 159 

sacre of Mad Anthony Wayne ^s troops at Paoli. 

If there was any fighting going on the mem- 
bers of the red-headed Brady family were not 
likely to miss it. Samuel's career in the "War 
of Independence was one of continual adventure. 
At the ghastly affair at Paoli, he was completely 
surrounded and death seemed inevitable, when 
suddenly he made a desperate rush and (to use 
an expression which must be used often in any 
account of him) barely escaped with his life. 

It was not, however, as a soldier that Sam 
Brady was pre-eminent, but rather as a scout 
and ranger, guarding the western frontiers of 
Pennsylvania from hostile savages, as Boone 
guarded the frontiers of Kentucky. It is one 
of the freaks of history that his name is not 
as familiar as that of Boone, for his adventures 
and prowess were quite as remarkable. 

As every boy knows, the present flourishing 
city of Pittsburgh derives its name from an out- 
post fort which stood there, and the country be- 
tween Pittsburgh and Lake Erie, which is trav- 
ersed by the Allegheny River, was the frontier 
country of Pennsylvania. 

It was a very wild region, infested by lurking 
red men ever in wait for those who ventured to 
settle in its depths, and at times the solemn still- 
ness of its vast woods re-echoed with their war- 
whoops and the cries of the dying. 

It was in this remote and hostile territory that 



160 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

Sam Brady and his rangers roamed, and here 
some of his most remarkable adventures befell 
him. He was a typical scout and frontiersman, 
ever at home in the woods, ever on the trail and 
ever in advance of civilization. The thriving 
towns and growing settlements to the east of his 
perilous haunts owed him and his little band a 
debt of gratitude which can hardly be measured, 
for they were a sort of border police, clearing 
the unknown country of its dangers and striving 
to make it safe for the hardy but less adven- 
turous home builders who were ever pressing 
farther westward. 

Not the least remarkable adventure of this re- 
doubtable scout was when he penetrated with a 
small band of followers into the wild country 
which is now part of the State of Ohio, in pur- 
suit of some fugitive Indians who had committed 
depredations in his own county. 

In the locality of what is now Portage County, 
in Ohio, is a lake which, by reason of the rang- 
er's exploit, was named after him. Here, after 
an exciting chase through a country which would 
have been impenetrable to any but the hardiest 
and most persistent ranger, Brady and his party 
succeeded in ambushing their quarry. In the 
fight which ensued nearly all of the savages were 
killed and Brady and his men were congratulat- 
ing themselves upon their complete success when 
suddenly a savage war-whoop rent the air and 



SAMUEL BRADY, EANGER 161 

there appeared upon the scene, apparently by 
the merest chance, a party of savages greatly 
ontnumbering the little band of rangers. 

But Brady and his followers were not the men 
to flee, despite the frightful odds against them, 
and they fought desperately a losing game. Some 
of the little band escaped, but most of them 
were massacred and scalped. Brady himself was 
taken prisoner. 

The savages had heard of the tall frontiers- 
man and they resolved to make his capture the 
occasion of festivity, so instead of massacring 
him out of hand (which Avould have been the 
wiser course, as things turned out) they bore 
him to' their village and proceeded to circulate 
an invitation among the neighboring tribes to 
come and witness the pleasant spectacle of his 
torture and death. 

It was, indeed, to be a gala affair— an exhibi- 
tion to be witnessed with solemn delight, and 
told and retold by the old squaws in days to 
come. From far and near on the appointed day 
Indians of both sexes, old and young, betook 
themselves to the festive scene in holiday spirit 
and array. 

While these parties were arriving a sort of 
preliminary exhibition was given. The unhappy 
Brady was lashed to the stake and the flames 
allowed to play about his limbs, not, however, 
close enough to burn him. Thus, while the hos- 



162 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

pitable hosts were busy welcoming the new ar- 
rivals, the little Indians were diverted by this 
amusing spectacle. 

Suddenly, in a moment when they had scamp- 
ered off, perhaps to plan some new torment, Sam 
Brady, whose mighty strength his captors had 
not estimated, drew his gigantic form together, 
expanded his muscles and his chest, writhed, 
struggled, tugged . . . 

And when the Indians returned to the spot 
they found it would be necessary to call off the 
exhibition, for its principal actor was gone. 

Pursued by a howling mob of infuriated In- 
dians, the fugitive, unarmed and all but naked, 
fled through the dense forest, hiding by night 
and hurrying stealthily by day, until at last he 
regained the spot where he had been captured. 
If he could ford a river here he would be com- 
paratively safe in the familiar country beyond. 
To his surprise, however, the Indians had reached 
the ford first and cut off his only path of escape. 

The stream at this point flowed in a roaring 
torrent between precipitous banks, which at the 
river's narrowest stretch in that locality were 
about thirty feet apart. 

It did not take Sam Brady long to determine 
what he should do. The Indians, guarding the 
ford, and knowing that he was at their mercy, 
did not concern themselves greatly with his 
maneuver as he retreated a few paces from the 



SAMUEL BRADY, EANGER 163 

precipice, took a running jump, landed below 
the brink of the wall opposite, scrambled up, and 
made for the thicket beyond. It all happened 
in a moment, and again Sam Brady had barely 
escaped with his life. 

One of the Indians, gazing blankly at the spot, 
said, ^^A¥liite man, him make damn good jump. 
Eed man, no try." 

But the fleeing ranger was not permitted to 
go unscathed, for one of the chagrined savages 
managed to shoot him in the leg as he disap- 
peared in the woods beyond the river. 

Crossing by the ford, the red men were soon 
hot upon his trail, and again his capture seemed 
imminent, for he was lame from his wound. It 
happened, however, that he presently reached 
the lake where his companions had been mur- 
dered, and seeing some pond lilies on the sur- 
face, a bright idea came to him. Crawling into 
the water, he completely submerged himself, 
breathing through the hollow stem of a pond lily. 

The savages, reaching the lake, scoured its 
shores in vain for the elusive quarry, and seeing 
the trail of blood leading to the water without 
any corresponding trail from it, they concluded 
that he was drowTied and retraced their weary 
way homeward. 

Again Sam Brady had barely escaped with 
his life. 



164 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

The year 1782 was long known as the Bloody 
Year because of the sanguinary Avarfare of the 
savages at that time. Indeed, it was rumored 
throughout the towns that a bloody conspiracy 
was on foot, in which several tribes were to par- 
ticipate in an enterprise no less ambitious than 
that of wiping out the settlements in Pennsyl- 
vania and thereabout. 

General Washington was greatly concerned by 
these rumors, and he requested that a suitable 
man be selected and sent forth to ascertain if 
they were well founded. It would be necessary 
for the messenger to adopt Indian disguise and 
to speak the Indian language, and to do this, 
as we should say now, was Sam Brady's middle 
name. 

The choice quickly fell upon him, and he was 
asked how many companions he would like to 
have accompany him on his perilous expedition. 
He answered that he would like one companion. 
It w^ould be hardly fair to say that his request 
was excessive. The comrade chosen for him 
was Lewis Wetzel, an appropriate choice, for if 
ever there were another Sam Brady, Lewis Wet- 
zel was that man. 

Covering their faces with war paint, blacken- 
ing their hair and donning the Indian garb, the 
two men sallied forth to play the part of spies 
in a hostile camp. Arrived at the great council 
which was being held, they introduced themselves 



SAMUEL BRADY, EANGER 165 

as a delegation from a distant tribe wliich was 
desirous of joining the great conspiracy. 

Surprising as it may seem, the pair were hos- 
pitably received, and mingling freely with the 
unsuspecting council, they came by a full knowl- 
edge of all its secret and carefully laid plans. 

There was one wily old chief, however, who 
began to cast a shreAvd eye upon the visitors, 
which annoyed them and caused them to debate 
his rather disturbing scrutiny in secret. 

The old chief soon made knowm his suspicions 
by an attempt to tomahawk the pair, whereupon 
they shot him, and the game being now up they 
succeeded after a desperate struggle in making 
their escape on two horses which the Indians 
had previously stolen from the settlers. 

Then there followed such a journey as never 
before or since has been known to those return- 
ing homeward from a masquerade party. Hotly 
pursued, the two adventurers sped through the 
forest. Wetzel's horse fell dead and they took 
turns in riding the other horse until the poor 
beast also sank exhausted, and the men were 
forced to run for their lives. They reached a 
camp of friendly Indians who knew them, and 
here they succeeded in procuring one horse. 

On they went, taking turns as before, and per- 
plexing and confounding their infuriated pur- 
suers by every trick known to experienced scouts 
and rangers. 



166 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

At last they came to tlie Ohio Eiver. The 
water was icy cold, for the season was winter, 
bnt they forced their horse in and managed to 
cross the torrent, Brady riding on the beast's 
back while Wetzel clnng tenaciously to its tail. 
And snrely the famous crossing of the Delaware 
by "Washington was no more picturesque than 
the crossing of the Ohio by this hapless pair 
with the disguising war paint dribbling from 
their faces in many-colored drops, their fine 
feathers bedraggled, and the weary form of 
Wetzel trailing after the wretched horse like 
the tail of a comet! 

Arrived on the other side of the river, Brady 
discovered that his comrade was frozen almost 
stiff, and again his resourceful mind devised a 
novel expedient. Killing the horse, he disem- 
boweled it and placed the frozen body of his 
companion within the warm and cosy interior! 

He did not wish to kindle a fire for fear of 
the Indians but this he presently resolved to do, 
and in its warmth he chafed and rubbed the 
limbs and arms of his companion until the cir- 
culation was re-established, and they were able 
to pursue their journey, unmolested, back to the 
settlements. 

They had spoiled the game for the Indians, 
who, their plans being known, gave up the con- 
spiracy. 

In those days there lived in Pennsylvania two 



SAMUEL BRADY, EANGER 167 

kindred spirits named Benington and Briggs, 
who gravitated to Brady on the principle that 
birds of a feather flock together. The three 
formed a daring trio, and their ranging ex- 
ploits sometimes verged npon the incredible. 

Upon one of their scouting expeditions along 
the Pennsylvania frontier they came npon a 
ruined cabin with all the accompanying signs 
of Indian vandalism. While they were investi- 
gating the devastated scene a horseman rode up 
whom Brady recognized as a settler named Gray, 
the owner of the cabin, and together the four 
inspected the pathetic remains of what had, but 
a few hours before, been Mr. Gray's home. 

No sign of his wife or her sister or the set- 
tler's seven children could be seen. 

Grim with the spirit of vengeance. Gray re- 
solved to rescue his people and visit punishment 
upon their captors, and the three scouts were 
nothing loath to accompany him. 

Brady soon succeeded in picking up the trail, 
and before nightfall they were able, from a van- 
tage point, to discover thirteen savages with 
their nine captives, encamped in the very spot 
where Brady had suspected they would pause 
for the night. 

After a while the weary savages and their 
captives fell asleep and the four trailers stole 
do^^^l upon them. Incredible as it may seem, 
these four resolute men, led by Brady, killed 



168 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

every single Indian of the party, nine of them 
as they slept, the others finding only death await- 
ing them as they awoke. 

The women and children were rescued and 
the party made a safe journey to the nearest 
settlement. 

The scene of this extraordinary rescue was 
near a spring w^hich to this day is known as 
Bloody Spring in memory of the astonishing 
exploit of Scout Brady and his friends. 

On another occasion Brady was returning 
from an Indian community where he had se- 
cretly made a map of the locality and learned 
many of the secrets of the savages, when he 
saw an Indian on horseback carrying a white 
woman. Alongside them trotted two white chil- 
dren. Brady still wore his Indian disguise. 
Eaising his rifle, he shot a bullet through the 
Indian's heart, leaving the captive woman un- 
injured and amazed at one Indian's thus shoot- 
ing another, until, rushing forward, he cried: 

*^ Don't you know me? I am Sam Brady." 

The woman was Jenny Stripes, wife of a set- 
tler whom Brady knew well. 

Her captor had left his companions, among 
whom was a little dog belonging to Mrs. Stripes. 
This dog trailed his mistress and the Indians 
followed. As the dog came running toward them 
Brady tomahawked it, for he had but two loads 
left in his rifle and feared that he might need 



SAMUEL BRADY, EANGER 169 

them for more important game. Thus lie con- 
fomided the pursuers and succeeded in bringing 
Mrs. Stripes and her weary and frightened chil- 
dren to Fort Pitt. 

Resourcefulness and presence of mind, which 
are much advertised to-day as desirable scout 
qualities, were possessed by Sam Brady in su- 
perlative degree. There was almost a touch of 
sleight-of-hand about his many escapes and dar- 
ing exploits. 

On one occasion, when he had been bound hand 
and foot, he rolled to a fire, burned his thongs 
and got away. At another time he came upon 
two Indians, one standing on the shoulders of 
the other picking bark from a tree. Brady had 
but one load in his rifle. He shot the Indian 
who stood on the ground and the one above 
tumbled to the earth, at his mercy. 

Though a crack shot and of matchless courage, 
he appears always to have used his brain before 
he used his rifle, and the faculty was his to do 
quick thinking in a predicament. 

Indeed, this is the only explanation of his 
many hair 's-breadth escapes. No amount of 
mere physical prowess could have carried him 
through his amazing experiences on the frontier 
to the day when he died peacefully in his humble 
home. He was not only a great scout, but a very 
original and ingenious one, and he might, in- 
deed, serve better than others more famous as 



170 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

a scout model. It is said that he was the origi- 
nal of Cooper's famous character of Leather 
Stoching. 

Be that as it may, he was not only a good 
scout, but a very good man, a patriot through 
and through, the defender and protector and res- 
cuer of women and children, the stalwart and 
fearless guardian of a lonely frontier, and it is 
pleasant to reflect that the latter part of his 
useful and splendid life was spent in the quiet 
shelter of his o^Yn home where children, whom 
he loved, were wont to cluster about him and 
listen to the blood-curdling tales of his early 
adventures. 



LEWIS AND CLAEK 

How they were the first to cross the continent and the story 
of their famous expedition. 

There are scouts and scouts, and some of them 
have been pre-eminent for one thing and some 
for another. In the case of some their scouting 
— ^which means, briefly, going ahead and explor- 
ing — ^has been incidental to their trapping and 
hunting; while in the case of others it has been 
incidental to their pursuit of Indians, or their 
quest of a home. 

Most of our scouts have been scouts by cir- 
cumstance rather than by profession. That is 
to say, they did not go into new territory simply 
to observe and get information, though the inci- 
dental results of their activities entitle them to 
be called scouts. 

Lewis and Clark, on the other hand, were 
typical scouts — professional scouts, if you will. 
They were, if we may so express it, hired for 
that purpose. This does not dim the glamor of 
romance which we are wont to see about them. 
They performed one of the greatest scouting ex- 
ploits in the history of the world, and they saved 
time and did it the better, because they followed 

171 



172 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

a program and did just exactly what they set 
out to do. 

Perhaps they were not the greatest scouts, but 
they were certainly typical scouts. 

We have tried to consider each famous scout 
individually, giving each one, so to speak, his day 
in court. Thus we have ruthlessly torn General 
Fremont and Kit Carson apart, nothwithstand- 
ing their many adventures together, for we could 
not permit the redoubtable Santa Fe trailer to 
play second fiddle to anyone. 

But we cannot separate Lewis and Clark. 
They are bound together by their great exploit, 
and seem to have no story worth the telling 
either before or after that one adventurous ex- 
pedition. 

So let us follow the trail of Lewis and Clark, 
according equal credit to both, as indeed they 
accorded equal credit to each otlier. They were 
as inseparable as those renowned heroes. Twee- 
dledum and Tweedledee, and they got along to- 
gether a great deal better! 

As every boy knows, the vast tract of land 
formerly known as Louisiana was sold by the 
great Napoleon to the United States in 1803. 
The price which our country paid for this enor- 
mous territory was fifteen million dollars, and 
Napoleon was very glad to get the money, for 
he needed it in his imperial business. 

Eoughly speaking, Louisiana then comprised 




CAPT. MERIWEATHER LEWIS 



LEWIS AND CLARK 173 

all the land west of the Mississippi, bounded on 
the north by the British possessions, and on the 
south by those of Spain. In other words, it 
covered the region which is now occupied by the 
states of Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Kan- 
sas, Iowa, Nebraska, South and North Dakota, 
Wyoming, Montana, and parts of Idaho and 
Colorado. 

In all this vast territory there were not a 
hundred thousand white persons. Many extrav- 
agant and absurd tales were circulated about the 
region and were believed. Stories of strange 
animals, quite unkno^\m to zoologists, were ban- 
died about; savages, more primitive and fero- 
cious than any before known, were described as 
roaming the vast northwestern wilderness, and 
even President Jefferson himself believed many 
of these tales. 

^^en he selected Meriwether Lewis to lead 
the memorable expedition across the country he 
said to him, among other things, ^^Our Consuls, 
Thomas Ilewes at Batavia in Java, William Bu- 
chanan in the Isles of France and Bourbon, and 
John Elmslie at the Cape of Good Hope, will 
be able to supply your necessities by drafts on 
us.'' It is perfectly evident that President Jef- 
ferson had grave misgivings as to the outcome 
of the expedition and as to where his transcon- 
tinental explorers would eventually arrive. 
When the purchase of this vast territory was 



174 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

completed President Jefferson resolved that it 
should be explored, and he proposed to the Con- 
gress then in session that an expedition should 
be formed for that purpose. He had as his 
private secretary this young man, Meriwether 
Lewis, who had risen to the rank of captain in 
the army, and in suggesting him as a suitable 
leader of the proposed party, he enumerated 
some of the young man's qualifications for the 
hazardous mission, incidentally furnishing about 
the best description of an all-around scout which 
we have ever heard: 

*^ . . of courage undaunted; possessing a 
firmness and perseverance of purpose which 
nothing but impossibilities could divert from its 
direction; careful as a father of those committed 
to his charge, yet steady in the maintenance of 
order and discipline; intimate with the Indian 
character, customs and principles; habituated to 
the hunting life; guarded by exact observation 
of the vegetable and animal life of his own coun- 
try, against losing time in the description of 
objects already possessed; honest, disinterested, 
liberal, and of sound understanding, and a fidel- 
ity to truth so scrupulous that whatever he 
should report would be as certain as if seen 
by ourselves. With all these qualifications, as 
if selected and implanted by nature in one body 
for this express purpose, I could have no hesi- 
tation in confiding the enterprise to him." 



LEWIS AND CLARK 175 

We should think not! Indeed, it leaves little 
to be told of Meriwether Lewis except that he 
was born in Virginia in 1774, in the town of 
Charlottesville. 

Lewis selected as his assistant and to lead the 
party in the event of mishap to himself, William 
Clark, who was fonr years older than himself 
and who, we are told, was '* almost a duplicate 
of Lewis in all his qualities." Clark was like- 
wise a Virginian by birth. 

Both of these young men held the rank of 
captain and in the whole course of the expedi- 
tion's progress to the Pacific Coast and back 
they exercised equal authority without the sug- 
gestion of a rift in the affectionate friendship 
which existed betiveen them. This is not the 
least remarkable feature of that remarkable 
journey. 

As finally organized, the famous expedition 
was made up of these two captains and twenty- 
seven men. Nine hailed from Kentucky and 
were accustomed to frontier life; fourteen were 
soldiers of the United States Army; two were 
French voyageurSy or watermen (one of whom 
understood the Indian language and was to act 
as interpreter) ; one was a hunter, and the other 
a negro servant of Captain Clark, who, in his 
appropriate character of minstrel and comedian, 
greatly enlivened the party and became quite 
a character among them. He was viewed with 



176 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

consternation by the savages of the Far West, 
who had never before seen a black man, no3? -a 
white man either, for the matter of that. In 
all their long wanderings only one of the party 
lost his life. 

In addition to these men a small additional 
party of voyagenrs and soldiers was to accom- 
pany the expedition as far as the country of the 
Mandan Indians in the region which is now 
North Dakota, for it was believed that hostile 
attacks were more likely to be made east of that 
point than west of it. 

The purpose of the expedition was Very clearly 
defined. The men were, if possible, to find a 
waterway across the continent. They were to 
explore the country thoroughly as far west as 
they could get. They were to procure informa- 
tion which would be helpful in making maps. 
They were to observe the Indians, particularly 
their manners, customs, government, diseases, 
etc.; they were to observe the wild life, the 
flowers and minerals, and indeed were to report 
on anything and everything which might be of 
any service in the future settlement and devel- 
opment of the country. 

On May 14th, 1804, the expedition left the neigh- 
borhood of St. Louis and started up the Mis- 
souri Eiver, in three boats. The largest of these 
was fifty feet long, and was equipped with sail 
and oars and mounted a small gun. The others 




GEN. WILLIAM CLARK 



LEWIS AND CLARK 177 

were much smaller and of rough construction. 
The boats were to be used as far as the river 
would permit. 

Four days later they reached the last white 
settlement on the river, a little village called 
La Charrette, consisting of a dozen or so cabins. 
In one of these lived Daniel Boone, the famons 
pioneer of Kentucky, then seventy years of age. 

Leaving La Charrette, they pursued their way 
through an unknown country, following the tor- 
tuous windings of the great river. After jour- 
ne^dng for a few days they came upon a raft 
carrying a hunter and trapper named Dorian, 
who had lived among the Sioux Indians for many 
years, and on hearing of their purpose he gladly 
agreed to accompany them. 

After an inland voyage of more than five 
months, during which time they held friendly 
intercourse with many Indian tribes, they came 
to the Mandan villages and, having found a suit- 
able spot, they proceeded to fell trees and make 
preparations for their winter camp, which they 
called Fort Mandan. This was in the vicinity 
of the present city of Bismarck. 

They found the Mandans hospitable and 
friendly, and the winter spent among them 
passed pleasantly. Corn and other supplies 
were bought from the red men and the hunters 
of the party found game plentiful. 

Early in April they broke camp, and having 



178 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

sent back the extra members who had been de- 
tailed to accompany them that far, proceeded 
up the tortuous river. 

Eight days later they passed a place which 
they named Chaboneau Creek, after one of the 
French voyageurs, who had previously encamped 
there. ^ ^Beyond this,'' the famous journal of 
the expedition reads, ^^no white man has ever 
been, but two Frenchmen." 

All through this region they saw large num- 
bers of fallen trees which had been cut down 
by beavers, and there were multitudes of these 
industrious little animals which are now so 
scarce. They encountered also great herds of 
buifalo and innumerable grizzly bears. These 
latter were very ferocious. 

On one occasion, six of the men, all good hunt- 
ers, simultaneously attacked one of these monsters 
and, though all the bullets struck the beast, such 
was its amazing vitality that some of the at- 
tackers were forced to flee in a canoe while the 
others concealed themselves and kept up a con- 
tinual fire. With every shot which took effect 
the beast became only the more enraged, seem- 
ing to gain in strength under the fusillade of 
shot. At length, just as the hunters had given 
up in despair, and were scrambling down a pre- 
cipitous bank to save their lives, one of them 
turned and shot the animal between the eyes, 
which put an end to his career. He had been 



LEWIS AND CLAEK 179 

able to pursue them with eight bullets in his 
body ! 

On the 26th of May, Captain Lewis, standing 
upon a hilltop, beheld, about fifty miles distant 
as he thought, a range of lofty peaks which he 
knew to be the Kocky Mountains. Somewhere 
there, he felt sure, this mighty, sinuous stream 
which they were following had its source, and 
beyond, on the westerly slopes, he hoped to find 
the trickling headwaters of the stream or streams 
which should carry them, or at least guide them, 
through the mysterious unknoA\Ti country, on to 
the Pacific. 

How the hearts of all those bold adventurers 
must have thrilled as they gazed upon the gray 
peaks; and we may believe that even in their 
stout resolve they w^ere not free from misgiv- 
ings at thought of the obstacles which those un- 
known mountains might present to their prog- 
ress. Shortly, they knew, they would have to 
abandon their boats and press on afoot in quest 
of a pass into the strange land far to the west- 
ward. 

The river was still more than one hundred 
yards wide and they continued their journey 
without difficulty. As they approached the moun- 
tains, game became more plentiful and they lived 
on the fat of the land. 

They were now passing through a region rich 
in memorials of ancient life, and every mile they 



180 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

traversed revealed wonders of animal and floral 
life of which they had never dreamed. 

This was the immemorial home and hunting- 
ground of the Minitarees. As they toiled up 
the narrowing stream they came at length to a 
point where it was difficult to determine which 
of two branches to take, but they decided that 
the southern branch was the true Missouri, and 
they followed it, naming the northern branch 
Maria's River, after an old sweetheart of Cap- 
tain Clark's. 

This was the region which is now the State 
of Montana. Presently they came to the great 
falls of the Missouri, where they paused to build 
canoes, transporting them above the falls by 
means of a rough wagon which they made. A 
perfectly round cottonwood tree sawed into thin 
sections supplied the wheels. 

Here, according to the famous journal of the 
expedition, strange, booming sounds were heard 
continually. These are still heard by travelers 
in that Avild, lonely region, and their cause has 
never been determined. 

They were now within the lower reaches of the 
Rockies, pushing through an untrodden wilder- 
ness, such as is surpassed nowhere in the world. 

As they journeyed on they came to three forks 
and they were in a quandary as before as to 
which stream to follow. They wished, of course, 
to pursue the one which would bring them to that 



LEWIS AND CLAEK 181 

part of the mountains nearest to the source of 
some westerly flowing river. 

"Whether by reason of their skill in scontcraft 
or by sheer good luck, they chose the right one 
(which they named Jefferson Eiver) and follow- 
ing it np to its source they came at last to a tiny 
trickle, the infinitesimal beginning of the mighty 
Missouri Eiver whose windings they had followed 
through the unexplored wilderness which is now 
five states. 

This spot is known as Lemhi Pass, and it was 
upon the 12th of August, 1805, that Captain 
Lewis, traveling a little in advance of the others, 
stood there realizing (may we not assume, with 
a thrill of pride and satisfaction?) that he was 
at last near to the backbone of the continent.^ 

Keeping still ahead of his companions. Captain 
Lewis pressed on through the rocky intricacies 
of those mighty heights till he came to another 
little trickle which flowed westward and which 
he believed must bear its crystal contribution 
down through rock and cavern to swell the flood 
of the Columbia as it swept on to the Pacific! 

So far as he knew, no white man had ever 
before trodden these dim recesses, and we may 
fancy the pride and satisfaction of the intrepid 
scout as he gazed upon that tiny brooklet among 
the rocks Avhich would show the w^ay, however 
difficult and baffling, to the shores of the great 
ocean. 



182 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

Still keeping ahead of the main party, he came 
upon a band of Shoshone Indians who gazed at 
him in consternation, for they had never before 
seen a white man and he was as much a marvel 
to them as Colnmbns had been to the natives of 
San Salvador. 

When their astonishment had somewhat sub- 
sided. Captain Lewis was able, after a fashion, 
to hold intercourse with them and he found them 
inclined to be peaceable and friendly. He bor- 
rowed horses from them and persuaded the chief 
to accompany him back to the main party where 
a further surprise awaited the warrior. For on 
meeting with them who should he discover but 
Sacajawea, his own long lost sister, who had 
come along as the wife of one of the French 
voyageurs. She had, it seemed, been stolen by 
the Minatarees while a child and her people had 
given up all hope of ever seeing her again. 

Pausing at the camp of these friendly Indians, 
the party waited while Captain Clark explored 
one of the streams and the westerly flowing 
Salmon Eiver of which it was a tributary. 

He found, as the Indians had told him, that 
the country below in this direction was too rough 
for travel, so, taking several of the Shoshones 
for guides, they descended in another direction 
until they reached the head of Bitter Eoot Kiver. 

This they followed through the wild Eocky 
Mountain country until it brought them to a 



LEWIS AND CLAEK 183 

stream wMch they called Lolo Creek and here 
they made a camp, calling it Travelers' Rest. 

Resuming their journey through the passes of 
the Bitter Root Range they followed Lolo Creek 
to a point which they called Lolo Pass and came 
at length in their tortuous wanderings to a place 
in the mountains from which the natives told 
them how they might descend in canoes. 

They had, of course, abandoned even these as 
they ascended and the streams became less navi- 
gable, so they made camp again in order to rest 
and construct enough rough craft to proceed by 
water. 

Here they remained from September 26th to 
October 7th, 1805, making preparations and con- 
structing the canoes for the last stage of their 
long journey. As usual, they found the natives 
greatly interested in them, obliging and friendly. 
Here also they secured provisions, which had of 
late been alarmingly low. 

Resuming their journey on October 7th, they 
descended in their canoes till they came to Snake 
River, or, as they ^called it, Lewis River, in 
honor of their leader. This stream broadened 
as it descended until presently they were sailing 
down the wide bosom of a noble river, which 
wound its Avay through deep ravines. Above 
them on either hand rose precipitous rocky 
heights between which the hurrying stream was 
at times churned into perilous rapids. 



184 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

Following tlie erratic wanderings and braving 
the dangers of the river, they reached the point 
where it separates the present States of Oregon 
and Idaho, and presently they were sailing down 
the wide expanse of the lordly Columbia, their 
gaze enthralled by the magnificent prospect of 
green and lofty mountains which rolled away 
into the misty distance on either hand. 

On November 7th, they had their first glimpse 
of the Pacific Ocean, and* before that memorable 
day w^as over the welcome sound of its incessant 
breakers reached the ears of the weary and 
triumphant explorers. 

Their long journey was over, their mission 
accomplished. Not a serious mishap had there 
been. It was a triumph without alloy. 

A little above the mouth of the great Columbia 
Eiver, at a spot which they called Netul, they 
made their camp. Here, in a dim grove of 
stately pines, they built rough cabins and being 
in the neighborhood of the Clatsop Indians they 
named their little makeshift settlement after that 
friendly tribe. 

They lived now chiefly on fish and elks' meat, 
nd though their fare grew monotonous as the 
winter months wore away, and even though star- 
vation sometimes threatened, the contemplation 
of their successful expedition buoyed them up 
and gave them strength and spirit for the tedious 
journey homeward. 



LEWIS AND CLARK 185 

Toward the end of March, 1806, after a winter 
which, despite its hardships and privations, was 
by no means unpleasant, they abandoned their 
little home among the pines and set forth again 
up the Columbia toward the mountaips. 

They had traded off all their glass heads and 
miscellaneous gewgaws to the Indians and they 
had nothing wherewith to buy necessaries and 
safe conduct home save only the friendship which 
their iustice and honesty had won them among 
the Indian tribes through which they must agam 

^Xt this good-will served them in good stead. 
Moreover, Lewis and Clark had acquired^ the 
reputation of famous doctors, and on their oour- 
ney homeward they found lines of patients wait- 
ing for them such as would swell the pnde of 
the most arrogant specialist of to-day. They 
made "eye water" and traded it for horses, 
dogs, fish and game. 

Their clothing had gone in tatters and they 
were clad wholly in skins. 

In good time they crossed the mountains again, 
and after some adventures with the Blackfoot 
Indians, they pressed their way eastward and 
came at length to their old camp among the 

Mandans in Dakota. oo ;i ! 

They reached St. Louis on September 2ord,; 
1806, after an absence of two years and four 
months. Their primitive costumes and tanned 



186 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

faces were viewed with amazement by those who 
had never expected to see them again. 

In acknowledgment of their exploit and its 
great value to the young nation, Lewis was made 
Governor of Louisiana and Clark was raised to 
Militia General of the same vast area and also 
appointed Indian agent for the many tribes 
whose acquaintance he had made. The other 
members of the expedition were given double pay 
and three hundred and twenty acres of land each. 

Meriwether Lewis died in September, 1809, 
while on a journey to "Washington upon official 
business. He was found dead in a little inn in 
Tennessee where he stopped, but whether he 
killed himself or was murdered no one knows. 

In 1813, Clark was appointed Governor of 
Missouri and he held that post until the territory 
became a state. In 1822 he was made Superin- 
tendent of Indian Affairs, which office he held 
until his death in 1838. 

The Lewis and Clark Expedition was unique 
in many ways. For one thing, its two leaders 
shared the authority of leadership without a sug- 
gestion of jealousy or discord. For another 
thing, although they encountered many Indian 
tribes, they had no serious trouble with the red 
men, although there were, of course, instances 
of individual theft and treachery, and a varying 
measure of hospitality shown them in their ardu- 
ous progress westward. 



LEWIS AND CLAEK 187 

To be sure, the Indians of tlie Northwest, 
having never before seen white men, had not 
been swindled and oppressed, and cherished no 
grudge against these strange creatures whom 
they now saw for the first time. Yet this does 
not fully explain the refreshing absence of scrim- 
mages and massacres in that long journey of 
two years and doubtless much credit must be 
accorded to the tact and kindness of the two 
leaders. 

That only one man lost his life in all that two 
years of journeying and camping in an unknown 
country seems scarcely credible, but such was the 
fact. We might have supposed that the Kocky 
Mountains alone would have claimed at least 
one victim. 

The Lewis and Clark Expedition was one of 
the most ambitious and venturesome ever under- 
taken in our country, and it was out and away 
the most successful. Meriwether Lewis and Will- 
iam Clark must have possessed indeed all of 
the qualities which the astute Thomas Jefferson 
accorded to his young secretary. It seems evi- 
dent that that great and true democrat could do 
other things besides write the Declaration of 
Independence. 

He knew a good scout when he saw one. 



ZEBULON MONTGOMEEY PIKE 

How he explored the Mississippi and later the Rocky Moun- 
tains; how he searched for the Red River and didn't 
find it; also how the Spaniards found him and what 
they did with him; together with other particulars of 
his adventures in the Southwest. 

Near the central part of Colorado there rises 
above the surrounding rock-ribbed heights a 
towering mountain which is famous throughout 
the world as Pike's Peak. Fourteen thousand 
and one hundred feet -above sea-level it rears its 
mighty head and from that rocky, woodless 
summit, miles upon miles of trackless desert can 
be seen to the eastward, while on the Avest and 
north and south Nature may be viewed in all 
her magnificent disorder, in a thousand caiions, 
valleys and gray chaotic heights, fading away 
in the enveloping mist which shrouds the distant 
wilderness. 

It is a singular fact that the man whose name 
this majestic giant of the Kockies bears never 
climbed to its summit nor even approached very 
near to its wild and rugged base. 

But in the immediate country which it over- 
looks he suffered as acutely as man may suffer 
at the hands of untamed nature. His name was 

188 



ZEBULON MONTGOMEEY PIKE 189 

Zebulon Montgomery Pike and he was a brave 
young soldier and a good scout. He was born 
in the State of New Jersey in 1779, and in 1799 
he entered the army, becoming a captain in 1806. 
When the vast Louisiana territory was pur- 
chased by the United States, President Jeffer- 
son, as we know, was anxions that it should be 
thoroughly explored in order that its character 
might be made known to our people. 

For this momentous task of scouting and ex- 
ploring he selected Lems and Clark to penetrate 
the west and if possible to press on to the Pacific. 
But there were other things which that great 
president wished to determine in connection with 
the acquisition of this vast area, and chief among 
them was the source of the Mississippi. So, while 
Lewis and Clark were still upon their perilous 
errand. President Jefferson selected young 
Zebulon Pike to ascend the Father of Waters, 
ascertain all that he could of its source, and at 
the same time make certain observations along 
the northern boundary of the newly acquired 

land. 

His choice of young Pike for this mission, like 
his choice of Lewis and Clark, was a particu- 
larly happy— or shall we say, shrewd— one? 
Pike was nothing if not courageous, resourceful 
and adventurous. 

With a company of twenty men he set forth 
from St. Louis in August, 1805, in a rough boat 



190 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

about seventy feet long and with provisions for 
four months. 

His chief object was to explore the Mississippi 
to its tiniest beginning. The little party as- 
cended the river, pausing to construct new boats 
and before they had approached near to the 
headwaters Pike was the proud commander of 
a sumptuous fleet of four small craft which he 
contemplated with much satisfaction. 

*^Our four boats under full sail," he said, 
^* their flags streaming before the wind, were 
altogether a prospect so variegated and roman- 
tic that a man may scarce expect to" enjoy such 
a one but twice or thrice in the course of his 
life!" 

They formed a happy little scouting party, 
we may assume, having ^^ violins and other music 
on board," and taking great pride in their little 
flotilla. 

With music playing they sailed gaily across 
Lake Pepin, in the present State of Minnesota, 
and were soon in the region which Jonathan 
Carver was supposed to have traveled in 1766. 

Hereabouts Pike encountered agents and trap- 
pers of the British Fur Companies, whom he 
informed of the Louisiana Purchase and re- 
quested that they withdraw from the country. 

Spending the winter in that northern wilder- 
ness. Pike explored the headwaters of the Mis- 
sissippi, hunted, and made rough maps of the 



ZEBULON MONTGOMERY PIKE 191 

locality, gathering mucli information abont the 
unknown region, and after acute hardship and 
suffering from the cold, the little expedition 
retraced its way dowTi the great river, reaching 
St. Louis in April, 1806, at just about the time 
that Lewis and Clark were beginning their re- 
turn journey from the Pacific. 

So resourceful and indomitable had young Pike 
shown himself to be on this important mission 
into the unexplored wilderness of the north that 
he was presently selected to lead an expedition 
for the same purpose into the SouthAvest, and in 
July of the same year he set forth for that re- 
gion of mountains and prairies where the great 
peak which is now his namesake frowned upon 
the resolute scouts who would challenge the un- 
trodden wilderness at its foot. 

The expedition consisted of a miscellaneous 
company, including a surgeon, a sergeant, two 
corporals, sixteen privates and an interpreter. 
They w^ere very insufficiently equipped and pro- 
visioned, as it turned out. 

Sailing up the Missouri from St. Louis in tAvo 
rough boats, they came after six weeks' travel- 
ing to the Osage Eiver, which converges with 
the greater stream in the central part of Mis- 
souri. Here they abandoned their boats and 
procured horses with which to continue their 
journey. 

It must be borne in mind that although our 



192 THE BOYS^ BOOK OF SCOUTS 

country had purchased this vast tract of Louis- 
iana from France, there were many complica- 
tions in connection with its transfer. Spain 
was by no means agreeable to the negotiations 
between the United States and France; there 
was much dispute and dissatisfaction over the 
question of boundaries; and to go no further 
into the matter, it may be stated that the Span- 
ish authorities in New Mexico kept a jealous 
eye upon all Americans who ventured west of 
the Missouri and bent their course southward. 

Not that Captain Pike cared anything about 
this. He knew that he was in American terri- 
tory and he intended not to trespass upon Spain's 
possession to the south. He was not, if he knew 
it, going to accept Spain's arbitrary dictum as 
to where these possessions ended, however. In- 
deed, the line of Spain's southern frontier was, 
if one may so express it, up in the air. 

On learning that Pike was on his way to drive 
a wedge into the southwest wilderness the au- 
thorities in Santa Fe sent an armed force north- 
ward to intercept him. They advanced as far 
northward as the Kepublican Fork in the south- 
ern part of the present State of Nebraska, and 
here as Pike and his men pressed southward 
they came upon the trail of this formidable 
searching party. 

It was all they ever saw of it, for after much 
wandering in this direction and that, its leader, 



ZEBULON MONTGOMEEY PIKE 193 

having paid a visit to the Pawnee Indians for 
the purpose of securing their allegiance (Spain 
claiming this whole area), led his troops back 
to Santa Fe. 

Pike said that if he had met them he would 
have fought them, and w^e can readily believe 
that, although it would have been one of the 
most uneven conflicts in American history. 

Pushing southward and westward. Captain 
Pike came upon the Pawnees to whom the Span- 
iards had presented a Spanish flag, claiming 
their allegiance. The young scout presented 
them with an American flag, upon which they 
promptly agreed to furl the banner of Spain 
in favor of Old Glory. 

It was while among these warriors of doubt- 
full allegiance that Pike received in a roundabout 
way a report of the safe arrival of Lewis and 
Clark in St. Louis, and we may infer that this 
news buoyed the young explorer up with fresh 
courage and resolve in the prosecution of his 
own difficult task. 

Beaching the Arkansas Kiver, which corre- 
sponds to the line of the Old Santa Fe Trail, 
Pike began following it westward, intending to 
reach the mountains, where he expected to turn 
to the south, find the Eed Eiver (^vhich rises 
in the western part of Texas) and return home 
by that route. 

On November 15th, as they were slowly press- 



194 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

ing their way westward over the monotonous 
plains, Pike discerned an irregular line of 
shadow far ahead, and as they came nearer he 
perceived it to be a range of mountains with 
towering peaks, at intervals piercing the clouds. 

Cheered at the sight of these noble heights, 
the weary travelers paused and gave three cheers 
for the ^'Mexican Mountains." 

What they saw was, of course, the great range 
of the Eockies. Encouraged by the apparent 
proximity of these magnificent heights, they 
plodded on, intent on reaching the foot of the 
mountains the next day. 

But the next day the peaks seemed no nearer 
than before, and they pressed wearily on, kill- 
ing buffaloes from the great herds which were 
continually crossing their path, and drying some 
of the meat to carry along with them. 

They now entered an area of evil repute known 
as the hostile ground. This was the rugged 
country at the eastern base of the mountains 
and was so called because of the many fierce 
encounters which had occurred there. In this 
Bloody Way, as it was also called, predatory 
bands of Comanches and Pawnees lurked and 
roamed, ever in wait for traders who should 
venture within these perilous precincts. 

Here Pike and his companions met with a war 
party of Pawnees who outnumbered them four 
to one. He was wise enough, therefore, to offer 



ZEBULON MONTGOMEEY PIKE 195 

them presents instead of shot, which they ac- 
cepted with trne Pa\^alee alacrity and appeared 
satisfied nntil the little pow-wow iDroke np. 

Then their greed overcame them and they 
manifested a disposition to levy upon the re- 
maining goods of the travelers. It was time 
for diplomacy now, and Pil^e informed the chief 
that each and every red man who so mnch as 
laid a finger upon his possessions would be in- 
stantly killed. 

There mnst have been something in young 
Pike's eye to confirm his portentous words, for, 
after a few moments' council among themselves, 
the Indians left the explorers to pursue their 
journey unmolested. 

They presently arrived at the Grand Fork, 
which is about where the city of Pueblo, Colo- 
rado, now stands, in the lower reaches of the 
mountains. 

Here they built a rough fort of logs, which 
was the first American establishment of any 
kind in Colorado, and the main body of the 
expedition settled down to a much-needed rest 
while their intrepid leader with three compan- 
ions explored the neighboring mountains. 

After a journey of thirty or more miles, the 
four men found themselves at the base of one 
of the towering peaks which they had seen from 
afar. It was November, the cold was intense, 
and as they climbed the forbidding height they 



196 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

were forced to plow knee-deep throngh the snow. 

Their sufferings on that difficult ascent were 
indescribable. Their stock of clothing was so 
reduced that they wore only o.veralls. They 
had no socks and their worn-out shoes were 
held together with cords. Their food was in- 
sufficient, and while the ghastly specter of fam- 
ine crept in their arduous path, they climbed 
and plodded on unheeding, amid wind and storm, 
in imminent peril of freezing. 

The resolute Pike would not hear of turning 
back, and after such climbing and suffering as 
few men would be able to endure, the exhausted 
party reached the summit, from which they gazed 
out through a blinding snowstorm at a mighty 
peak about fifteen miles distant. This was the 
mountain which was afterward named for the 
dauntless man who thus beheld it for the first 
time. 

He called it the '^ Grand Peak," and so it must 
have seemed as it towered serenely amid the 
wind and beating snow, a very symbol of gran- 
deur and majestic power. The ragged, half- 
starved adventurer did not know as he gazed 
upon its lordly summit that its fame would carry 
his name to the farthest corners of the world, 
associating it forever with all that is grand and 
noble and beautiful, and terrible and forbidding, 
in Nature. Zebulon Pike could not have had a 
more befitting namesake. 



ZEBULON MONTGOMERY PIKE 197 

Eetracing Ms way to the fort, Pike found Ms 
men suffering frightfully from lack of food and 
clothing. They could not remain long in such 
a predicament. The perils of braving that for- 
bidding wilderness with such slight prospect of 
obtaining food as might offer, seemed better than 
inaction, and Pike led his weakened and disheart- 
ened followers on up the Arkansas River toward 
its source in the mountains. 

Why he did this, in his desperate strait and 
in the face of increasing privation and suffer- 
ing, is not know. The Red River, which he 
had expressed his intention of folloAving, lay 
to the southwest and the presumption has always 
been that Pike was fully aware of this. 

There seems no explanation of the subsequent 
pitiful wanderings of the wretched party, except 
just that they were lost in those rocky entangle- 
ments where they journeyed with apparent aim- 
lessness this way and that, their sufferings ever 
increasing. 

After some time they found themselves at the 
headwaters of the Arkansas in the mountain 
fastnesses. Their feet were naked and freezing; 
they were without food and almost without cloth- 
ing, sick at heart, and almost dead with fatigue. 
They managed to improvise a rough sled to 
carry their few remnants of baggage. Chron- 
iclers differ as to whether the expedition was 
lost and hopelessly bewildered or whether its 



198 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

indomitable leader, still ignoring peril and pri- 
vation, was bent on new discoveries. 

The one thing which is definitely known is 
that they experienced such hardship as few such 
expeditions have experienced. At length they 
reached a spot where Pike resolved to build a 
shelter which he called a fort. 

Here they stored what little baggage re- 
mained, and leaving an interpreter and one 
other man to guard it, they set forth again 
with packs on their backs across the mountains, 
with the single purpose of finding Eed River 
— that beacon stream which should guide them 
homeward out of this heartless, chaotic wilder- 
ness. 

It was in January, 1807, that they started. 
Each forlorn wayfarer carried forty-five pounds 
of baggage and a few provisions. They pursued 
their way southward amid a severe blizzard and 
penetrating cold. Very soon two of the men 
were compelled to give up because of frost-bit- 
ten feet. The party could not with safety pause, 
and these wretched sufferers could not go on. 

A difficult choice confronted Pike. He de- 
cided that the stricken men should be left be- 
hind with all the provisions which the party 
had, save enough for one scanty meal. 

Bidding good-bye to the sufferers the others 
pushed ahead, and on the 28th of January they 
were cheered by falling into a well-defined trail 



ZEBULON MONTGOMERY PIKE 199 

with odd markings on the bordering trees. They 
were, indeed, approaching the Mosca Pass, nine 
thousand seven hundred feet above the plains, 
and shortly to their delight and relief they could 
gaze off southward on a vast panorama, where 
the welcome sight of the Eio Grande greeted 
their eyes. They believed it to be the Eed Eiver. 

But their sufferings were not at an end. Half- 
starved, weary, and benumbed with the cold, 
they labored on, cheered by their dauntless 
leader, until they found themselves in the San 
Luis Valley. 

Here, at last, they found game and were able 
to remedy one cause of their sufferings and 
ghastly apprehensions. 

They were now in the extreme southern part 
of Colorado, on a branch of the Rio Grande 
called the Rio Conejos, and on its northern bank 
they built another fort. It was a very rough 
affair, constructed of logs, with a moat around 
it, and as well equipped for defence as their 
poor means and exhausted strength could make 
it. For the intrepid Pike was now resting his 
weary followers in a country where he had every 
reason to apprehend trouble with the Spaniards, 
and he intended, weak and spent though they 
were, to dispute by force every claim which the 
powers at Santa Fe might advance. 

As a matter of fact the party was encamped 
in territory which the Spaniards claimed and 



200 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

wMch, had lie known where he was, Pike would 
have conceded to be of their possession. But 
he thought he was on the Eed River in Texas, 
where their jurisdiction was, to say the least, 
doubtful. 

Several men were now sent back to bring the 
two who had been left behind, but the poor 
wretches could not travel and all that their 
would-be rescuers could do was to minister to 
them, and, having made them as comfortable 
as might be, leave them to their inevitable fate. 
As they returned, they carried back several bones 
from the feet of the unhappy victims — ghastly 
souvenirs of their wretched fate. 

At last the expected happened. An imposing 
company of mounted militia under Don Ignacio 
Salleto appeared before the little fort. Don 
Ignacio, with the utmost tact and courtesy, in- 
quired after the health of the heroic Pike and 
expressed the greatest solicitude for him and his 
ragged and exhausted companions. He was kind- 
ness itself, was Don Ignacio, and very consid- 
erate of the pride and feelings of the brave, 
travel-worn trespassers. 

**Senor,'' said he, *Hhe Governor of New Mex- 
ico, being informed that you had missed your 
route, ordered me to offer you in his name mules, 
horses, money, or whatever you may stand in 
need of to conduct you to the head of Eed Eiver, 
as from Santa Fe to where it is sometimes nav- 



ZEBULON MONTGOMERY PIKE 201 

igable is eight days' journey and we have guides 
and the routes of traders to conduct us." 

This was certainly very polite. 

'^What!" said Pike. '*Is not this the Eed 
River?" 

''No, senor." 

When Pike had recovered from his astonish- 
ment he immediately ordered his flaunting colors 
lowered, a rather inglorious sequel to his martial 
preparations. He was now ready enough to ad- 
mit that he was imwittingly trespassing. 

As a matter of plain fact, the Spaniards con- 
sidered that he had been trespassing during 
practically the w^hole of his unfortunate wan- 
derings, and they would have still considered 
him as trespassing if they had found him on 
the shores of the Red River. But here, at least, 
there could be no dispute, and he promptly ac- 
cepted Don Ignacio's invitation to accompany 
him to Santa Fe to ** visit" the governor. 

It was in reality a kind of sugar-coated arrest, 
made palatable by much-needed food and provi- 
sions, and an accompaniment of superb courtesy. 

Arrived at Santa Fe, the Americans were 
treated with consideration, and the acute suf- 
ferings which the party had undergone as well 
as the prowess of its redoubtable leader were 
quite sufficient to guarantee them a cordial hos- 
pitality, and, ere long, a safe conduct from Span- 
ish territory. 



202 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

Thus ended the hazardous expedition of Pike 
into the unknown southwestern wilderness. Not- 
withstanding his undoubted courage and scout 
resourcefulness, he had found the Rockies a foe- 
man worthy of his steel. 

In good time the little expedition reached the 
East and Pike received the grateful acknowl- 
edgments of the government for his journey and 
for the very considerable amount of valuable in- 
formation which he brought back. 

He rose rapidly to the rank of brigadier-gen- 
eral. In 1813 he was also appointed adjutant 
and inspector-general and put in command of 
the land portion of the expedition against York 
in Upper Canada, in the War of 1812. He ar- 
rived at York with seventeen hundred men, 
landed under a heavy fire, and while storming 
a battery was killed by the explosion of a mag- 
azine. 

But although he fought gallantly and died a 
soldier's death in the Far North, his name is 
forever associated with the frowning heights 
which he also stormed in the mountain wilder- 
ness of the Southwest, and with the mighty 
mountain which stands like an immortal mon- 
ument to commemorate his prowess and his 
suffering. 



ANDREW LEWIS 

How he won renown as a border fighter and how he led the 
pioneers of Virginia against the Indians in Lord Dun- 
more's War. 

A MIGHTY man was Andrew Lewis, at whose 
very tread the world shook (if we are to believe 
his friends), and compared with whose forbid- 
ding visage and awfnl mien that of a lion would 
be docility itself. He had a voice like thunder, 
a presence like that of Hercnles, and an eye 
whose very glance was like tmto a shot from 
his own trusty rifle. 

He was a man to frighten naughty children 
with, was Andrew Lewis. 

But he was not so bad when one got to know 
him, as we shall try to do in this little sketch 
of his life and adventures. 

He was Irish and proud of it, and a scout 
and border fighter of the first rank. He had 
only to raise his hand for a horde of sturdy 
borderers like himself to rally around him; and 
if, perchance, the raising of his hand failed, the 
raising of his voice more than sufficed. 

He was born in the year 1720, and his parents 
emigrated to America while he was still a very 

203 



204 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

young cliild. They settled in Virginia, and as 
Andrew grew up all doubt was dispelled (if 
indeed any had ever existed) as to his choice 
of a profession. He intended to fight, if there 
were any fighting to do, and there proved to 
be plenty of it. 

His early manhood was spent as a typical 
borderer, always with a band of sturdy woods- 
men at his back. There was not an Indian 
lurking on the frontier who did not know of 
and fear Andrew Lewis. For years he pro- 
tected the settlements from savage attacks, pen- 
etrating far into the backwoods and leading the 
most primitive sort of life. 

There is, however, one episode of Virginia's 
history with which this sturdy woodsman's name 
is forever associated; a little war which, com- 
ing just before the Eevolution, seems to us now 
like a tempest in a teapot, but Avhich in plain 
fact was one of the most desperate encounters 
with the Indians that frontier history has kno^vn. 

It is known as Lord Dunmore's War, but it 
did not belong exclusively to Lord Dunmore, as 
we shall see. 

In the year 1774, there were rumblings along 
the border which told the settlers that trouble 
was brewing, but open hostilities with the red 
men might have been averted by friendly coun- 
cil and new treaties, had it not been for an in- 
cident which at once put aside all prospect of 



ANDEEW LEWIS 205 

peaceable adjustment and plunged Virginia into 
a bloody war. 

At that time there lived along the Ohio Eiver 
on the western edge of what is now West Vir- 
ginia, an Indian named Tah-gah-jute, to whom 
the settlers of Virginia had given the name of 
Logan. 

Though of the Iroquois nation, he lived among 
the Shawnees and his fame and influence were 
great among all the tribes. In all their squab- 
bles and dissensions he held himself aloof, and 
exerted his great influence to induce his breth- 
ren to remember their treaties of amity and 
friendship with the white men. The fame of 
Logan is great now, even as his influence was 
great then, and there are few who have not read 
his famous speech, delivered after the close of 
the war, which for dignity and touching pathos is 
not surpassed in the annals of savage eloquence. 

The friendshiiD of Logan was a guarantee of 
peace in the mid Virginia borderland and the 
white men knew his word was to be trusted. 

In April, 1774, a trader by the name of Great- 
house visited this friendly savage and after ply- 
ing Logan and his entire family with liquor, 
cruelly murdered them all with the exception of 
Logan himself. Why this ruffian spared the 
great savage is not Imowai, but he certainly 
reckoned without his host. 

When Logan awoke to the realization of what 



206 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

had happened he became a fiend incarnate, and 
in his savage wrath he resolved to wreak ven- 
geance on the whole world of white men. 

If he had slain the wretch who had so wronged 
him the settlers would have borne no grudge 
against Logan, for the rough pioneers were, on 
the whole, fair-minded men, with a high sense 
of justice and a rough-and-ready honor. 

But no Indian, however wise and friendly, has 
ever been able to draw the distinction between 
injustice to his race and the irresponsible mur- 
der of one of its members. To the savage mind 
— even to the most enlightened savage mind 
(and Logan's was such) — the race must always 
be blamed for the crime of the individual. 

If Logan had wreaked vengeance upon Great- 
house no one would have resented it, and he 
would have done a service to the world in rid- 
ding it of a criminal, but instead he let loose 
his fury upon the settlers of western Virginia 
and the peaceful frontier settlements with their 
innocent women and children fell within the 
measure of his wrath. 

His great prestige among the tribes was now 
exercised to incite them to the warpath, and 
presently the lonely borderland was rendered 
frightful by the flames of burning homesteads 
and the cries of the dying. 

At that time the Eoyal Governor of Virginia 
was Lord Dunmore, who, seeing this terrific 



ANDREW LEWIS 207 

storm gathering momentum as it advanced, mus- 
tered the Virginia militia and all the woodsmen 
and pioneers from the wild country romidabout 
and set in motion a campaign to check the In- 
dians' work of massacre and devastation. 

The ^^left wing'' of this miscellaneous army 
was given in charge of Andrew Lems, who at 
once sent out a call to his men to rendezvous 
at a spot which has since been named in his 
honor — Lewisburg. The other wing was to be 
commanded by Lord Dunmore himself and had 
its rendezvous at Frederick. 

There soon began assembling at Lewis' ren- 
dezvous, which he called Cami3 Union, such a 
motley array of scouts and backwoodsmen as 
w^ere probably never before brought together. 
From the more populous eastern settlements 
across the Blue Ridge Mountains came score 
upon score of sturdy settlers, while out of their 
remote homes in the backwoods to the south 
and west others, clad in buckskin, made their 
arduous pilgrimage to Camp Union to enlist 
under the standard of the redoubtable Lewis. 

It was one of the most singular armies ever 
mobilized. George Rogers Clark, Simon Ken- 
ton, Daniel Morgan, and indeed almost every 
famous Kentucky scout and pioneer of that time, 
whom one could mention, joined that rough-and- 
ready legion. They were not strong on disci- 
pline, and though their relish for the game in 



208 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

hand was undoubted, it is a question whether 
any but Andrew Lewis could have controlled 
them. Of warfare, in the sense in which we 
understand the term, they knew nothing. But 
they were all crack shots, thoroughly familiar 
ivith the forests and the habits of the Indians, 
and they were past masters in all the qualities of 
scouting. 

We shall concern ourselves chiefly with this 
branch of the Virginia army. The plan was for 
Lewis to lead his men westward until they came 
to the Kanawha Eiver and follow it to the point 
where it empties into the Ohio. Here Lord Dun- 
more and his force were to join him and all 
were to advance against the Shawnee towns and 
destroy them. 

As soon as all was ready Lewis and his men 
set forth on their difficult journey across the 
mountains. Not a sign of trail was there and 
they pressed on through the dense forest, cut- 
ting down trees as they advanced in order to 
open a way for their pack horses. None but 
such men as these could ever have traversed 
those tangled mazes of brush, surmounting the 
hundred and one obstacles which the rugged 
mountains presented. It was a journey of over 
one hundred and fifty miles of the wildest coun- 
try imaginable, but here Lewis and his men 
were in their element, and at last they reached 
the upper waters of the Kanawha, where they 



ANDREW LEWIS 209 

built canoes, to which they transferred their 
luggage, sending their horses back. 

Here also they found a note in the hollow 
of a tree, ordering them to march up the Ohio 
and join Dunmore's forces. As all of Lewis s 
party had not come up, however, he decided to 
camp until the remainder of his "^f ^^-^^^f " 
While they waited, two young men of the party 
set out one morning on a scouting and hunting 
expedition. They had not gone far when they 
encountered a large band of Indians who im- 
mediately attacked them. One of the_ scouts was 
instantly killed. The other killed his assailant 
and escaped, reaching the camp after a remark- 
able flight through the forest. Eushmg mto 
camp, he gave the alarm, and immediately prep- 
arations were made for defence. 

The band of Indians which had thus been 
discovered was much larger than the yoimg 
scout supposed. It constituted, indeed the en- 
tire force of savages which old Cornstalk, the 
Shawnee chief, had assembled to attack Lewis s 
force, of whose advance he was well aware._ 

Logan, the moving spirit of the whole upris- 
ing was not present in this company, but oia 
Cornstalk was a host in himself. His plan was 
quite in conformity with the best military strat- 
egy for it was to fall on one party (whose num- 
ber he knew was about equal to his own) before 
it could possibly effect a union with the other 



210 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

party, of whose advance in another quarter he 
also knew. 

If it had not been for their discovery by the 
two yonng men the Indians would undoubtedly 
have fallen upon Lewis's force that very night 
and a bloody massacre would very likely have 
resulted. 

There was nothing now for Cornstalk to do 
but to lead his warriors forward, and he was 
wise enough not to give his enemy any time for 
preparation. 

Scarcely, therefore, had the young scout pant- 
ed out his appalling news to Lewis when the 
deafening war-whoops of the approaching sav- 
ages could be heard, and soon their painted 
forms were seen rushing pell-mell through the 
woods, incited by the wily chief whose voice 
could be heard amid the uproar. 

In the brief interval of hasty preparation, 
Lewis and his men had supposed that the In- 
dians were merely a small band sent to recon- 
noitre. All such hopeful thoughts were now 
dispelled as they saw the motley array advanc- 
ing through the forest. 

For a few moments Lewis's stern eye was 
fixed upon the multitude of warriors and their 
shouting chief, then with an air of grim deter- 
mination he reached for his trusty — pipe. When 
he had lighted it he took several good puifs, 
then forth from the savory smoke issued his 



ANDEEW LEWIS 211 

sonorous command for one of the columns to 
move forward. 

Instantly the men obeyed, moving from tree 
to tree, the Indians doing the same. Then the 
main body of Lewis's force advanced and the 
engagement began in earnest. 

The Indians fonght with savage desperation 
and remarkable skill under the keen eye and 
continual orders of old Cornstalk, who proved 
himself master of the situation. Eallying his 
men again ^nd again, he led them forward to 
bloody charges, which resolved themselves into 
grim hand-to-hand encounters among the trees. 

Amid flying tomahawks and rifle volleys the 
giant form of Andrew Lewis could be seen hur- 
rying about, encouraging his men and giving 
orders in tones that made the forest ring. 

It was a typical hand-to-hand battle, one of 
the most savage in all the border history. Old 
Cornstalk commanded his warriors with a skill 
and foresight which won the admiration of the 
white men. Once he was seen to cut down with 
his own hand a cowardly Indian who had hesi- 
tated to obey his order. 

Andrew Lewis, from beginning to end, was 
the spirit and incentive of his makeshift but 
sturdy army, and his thundering voice might be 
heard mingling with that of his noble adversary 
as he instilled fresh courage into his men. 

All day long the bloody conflict raged, one 



212 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

side, then the other, driven back, and there was 
no foretelling what the issne would be. 

As the day waned, the Indians, in the course 
of the shifting battle, found themselves upon 
a little eminence, deeply wooded with protecting 
trees, and high enough to give them an advan- 
tage. 

In desperation Lewis and his men tried to 
dislodge them, but they could not be driven from 
the hill. 

The fighting now became desperate in the ex- 
treme. The woods echoed with the war cries 
of the frantic savages, while the Virginians from 
behind trees poured volley after volley among 
them. 

At last the Indians began to show signs of 
weakening and Colonel Lewis detached some of 
his men, under a sturdy pioneer named Shelby, 
to make a roundabout march and attack them 
in the rear. 

It will be remembered that at the beginning 
of the battle some of Lewis's troops, who were 
coming over the mountains, had not yet reached 
the camp, and it was to await them that Lewis 
had decided to camp where he did. 

Cornstalk, who was exceptionally sagacious for 
a savage, knew of the expected arrival of these 
other troops, and when he discovered Shelby 
and his men opening fire upon him from the rear 



ANDEEW LEWIS 213 

he mistook this small party for the large band 
of reinforcements. 

Lewis gave him no time to deliberate or to 
discover the truth, but advanced at once with 
redoubled fury, and the suddenness of the at- 
tack, together with the old chief's misgivings 
at the supposed turn of affairs, caused him to 
withdraw his men, which he did in a masterly 
manner, leaving the grimly contested field in pos- 
session of Lewis and his brave border fighters. 

The ground was strewn with the dead of both 
sides, and if the woodsmen could call the result 
a victory, it was a victory which they had won 
at a staggering cost. Seventy-five of them had 
been killed and about fifty wounded. The In- 
dians had not lost nearly as many. 

That very night the rear guard of Lewis's 
army arrived. They remained at the bloody 
spot for several days to regain their breath and 
bury their dead. Here, also, they built a rough 
fort, and, leaving some men to garrison it, they 
pressed on through the wild country to effect a 
junction with Lord Dunmore. 

The spot where this sanguinary combat oc- 
curred was called Point Pleasant — a singularly 
inappropriate name and better suited to a mod- 
ern summer resort than to the scene of one of 
the most terrific border fights in pioneer history. 

Lewis and his backwoodsmen were not in a 
very amiable mood toward Lord Dunmore, and 



214 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

as tlie sturdy giant in tattered buckskin led his 
weary and wounded men along the trail his face 
bore an expression of grim resolve which boded 
ill for that tinseled dignitary. 

He and his men believed that Dunmore had 
planned from the beginning that on these brave 
backwoodsmen should fall the burden and the 
perils of an encounter with the formidable In- 
dian force. Moreover, the spirit of '76 was 
already beating in the breasts of these rough 
pioneers, and they looked upon Lord Dunmore 
as an aristocrat who despised them and their 
simple lives, and who represented a king whom 
they, in turn, despised. They believed that Lord 
Dunmore would have been well pleased to see 
them and all other patriots annihilated by the 
Indians. 

The Virginian Governor was not quite as bad 
as that, although he did, when the time arrived, 
prove himself a pretty staunch supporter of the 
king. It is not improbable, also, that he did 
look with a certain aristocratic disdain upon 
these rough men of the border and that he was 
willing enough to have them bear the brunt of 
the battle — ^which they certainly did. 

But there is no evidence of premeditated 
treachery on his part, although, as it fell out, 
with all his martial preparations and his vaunt- 
ed boasts, his task simmered down to the less 
glorious one of drawing up a treaty of peace 



ANDREW LEWIS 215 

with the Indians whom Lewis had fonght. This 
was the beginning and the end of Lord Dun- 
more 's participation in Lord Dnnmore's War, 
which ought to have been called Andrew Lewis's 
War, or Cornstalk's War, or Logan's War. 

When the two divisions of the Virginia army 
met and the tattered frontiersmen beheld the 
Virginia militia in all its fine feathers, their 
indignation rose and it is reported that fifty 
or more sturdy woodsmen were required to re- 
strain their furious leader from a personal as- 
sault upon the Governor. 

However this may be, they could not hold his 
mighty voice in check, and glaring upon the 
uniformed lord, he delivered a volley of broad- 
sides from his lusty lungs which struck terror 
to all the bystanders. 

Lord Dunmore wielded his pen if not his 
sword, and taking timely advantage of Lewis's 
victory, he effected the treaty which brought 
his namesake war to an end.* 

In good time the chiefs assembled to ratify 
this treaty with Virginia, but one there was v/ho 
did not attend the conference. This was Logan, 
whose deep chagrin and noble pride held him 
aloof from the council. He gave as the reason 
for his absence that he could not restrain him- 

*As this is the story of Andrew Lewis rather than that 
of Lord Dunmore's War, we have not, of course, given a 
complete account of the war itself. 



216 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

self in the presence of the white man. This was 
not a very hopeful angnry for the emissary who 
was afterward commissioned to visit him and 
secure his approval of the treaty, but it was 
essential that someone should see him, for a 
treaty would have been indeed a *^ scrap of pa- 
per" without Logan's mark. 

So a hardy old woodsman was despatched to 
make this perilous visit to the lion in his den. 
Contrary to all expectations, Logan received 
him not unkindly, and it was to him that the 
Indian delivered his famous speech, the most 
often quoted of any Indian utterance and which 
has been reprinted many times and in several 
languages. There is the same note of pride 
and pathos in it which one finds in the briefer 
speech of Joseph the Nez Perce in the hour of 
his defeat, and which imparts that touching qual- 
ity to all the simple and dignified eloquence of 
the American savage. 

**I appeal to any white man if he ever en- 
tered Logan's cabin hungry and he gave him 
no meat; if ever he came cold and naked and 
he clothed him not? During the course of the 
long and bloody war, Logan remained idle in 
his camp, an advocate for peace. Such was my 
love for the whites that my countrymen pointed 
as I passed and said, ^ Logan is the friend of 
the white man.' I had even thought to have 
lived with you, but for the injuries of one man. 



ANDREW LEWIS 217 

*^ Colonel Cresep, the last spring, in cold blood 
and unprovoked, murdered all the relations of 
Logan,* not even sparing my women and chil- 
dren. There runs not a drop of my blood in the 
veins of any living creature. This called on me 
for revenge. I have sought it. I have killed 
many. I have fully glutted my vengeance. 

**For my country, I rejoice at the beams of 
peace; but do not harbor a thought that mine 
is the joy of fear. Logan never felt fear. He 
will not turn on his heel to save his life. 

**Who is there to mourn for Logan! Not one!'' 

There is something which occasionally occurs 
in the affairs of men and which is known as 
poetic justice; which means a retribution or a 
punishment singularly appropriate and happy. 

An instance of it is found in the fact that as 
the wheels of time revolved and the War of 
Independence got under way, Andrew Lewis 
happened to be the very man whose cheerful 
task it was to drive Lord Dunmore from Virginia. 
His exaggerated sense of wrong caused him to 
prosecute this grateful duty with great zest, thus 
winning the commendation and lasting friend- 
ship and support of General AVashington. 

He fought bravely for the good cause but aL 

* Logan always erroneously supposed that a certain Colo- 
nel Cresep was the instigator of the crime of which Great- 
house was the immediate perpetrator. 



218 TPIE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

ways remained, as lie had been from tlie begin- 
ning, a woodsman and border fighter rather than 
a full-fledged soldier. He died in the year 1780, 
after about as strenuous a life as it is possible 
for man to lead on this planet. 

He was more than a scout, more than a pio- 
neer, more than a borderer — ^lie was a moving 
spirit among such hardy characters, a leader 
of men whom it was not easy to lead, and when 
he thundered forth his commands and raised 
himself to his gigantic height among them, the 
Morgans and the Clarks and the Kentons and 
the Girtys, and even old John Sevier, who was 
afraid of no man, and all the other rough-and- 
ready heroes of the frontier, sat up and took 
notice. 



GENERAL HENRY W. LAWTON 

How lie pursued the Apaches and captured their wily chief; 
how he fought in our country's war with Spain; and 
how he lost his life running down insurgents in the 
Philippines. 

"We shall consider General Lawton in his pic- 
turesque role of trailer and Indian fighter rather 
than in his capacity of soldier in the more strict- 
ly military operations in which he was engaged. 
This will not be unfair to his memory ; for though 
he served with distinction in the Civil War and 
with striking heroism in the war with Spain, 
opening the battle of Santiago by the capture 
of El Caney, his name is forever fixed as the 
captor of the wily Apache, Geronimo, and as 
the relentless pursuer of insurgents in the jun- 
gles of the Philippines. 

It was his extraordinary prowess in these ro- 
mantic fields which entitles him to a conspicuous 
place in this category, even though our account 
of him must be somewhat one-sided and incom- 
plete. 

He was born in Lucas County, Ohio, in 1843. 
In 1861 he joined the Federal forces as a ser- 
geant and was rapidly promoted until he at- 
tained the rank of brevet-colonel in 1865. The 

219 



220 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

following year lie entered the regular army as 
Second Lieutenant of the 41st Infantry (col- 
ored) and was transferred in 1871 to the Fourth 
Cavalry with which he remained until 1888, and 
during this time occurred the Indian adventures 
to which we shall give particular attention. 

At the beginning of the war with Spain Law- 
ton was appointed brigadier-general of volun- 
teers by President McKinley, and given com- 
mand of a division of the Fifth Army Corps 
under General Shafter. 

Later he was sent to the Philippines to help 
quell the insurgent uprising which was an ac- 
companiment and aftermath of the war. 

He was a man of gigantic size, of phenomenal 
strength and activity, of utter fearlessness, and 
with a capacity for endurance and privation 
which was nothing less than miraculous. He was 
quite as picturesque as any scout of old. He 
never told his men to go ahead — ^he led them. 
He loved danger for its own sake. 

Let us glance briefly at the second Apache 
war in which Lawton performed his most con- 
spicuous feat. 

It has been said that most of the quarrels in 
the world are caused by questions of money, and 
it may be safely added that two-thirds of our 
country's latter-day troubles with the Indians 
have been caused by questions of '^ reserva- 
tions." The farmer who is ousted from his 



GENERAL HENRY "W. LAWTON 221 

land in order that a railroad may be pnt through 
is not likely to appreciate the great advantage 
of a railroad. And that was very much the 
trouble with Chief Geronimo, one of the most 
remarkable savages with whom our government 
has ever had to deal. He was a chief of the 
Apache tribe which inhabited Arizona and New 
Mexico. 

There have been few Indians sagacious enough 
to appreciate the wisdom of the United States 
Government in driving them from one place to 
another. Usually it has been explained to them 
that they will be much better off in lands se- 
lected for them by the government, and as a 
rule they have failed utterly to perceive this 
and have answered such representations with 
rebellion. 

As if one Apache war were not enough, a sec- 
ond one came about through our government's 
ordering the tribe to leave the reservation where 
they had been living contentedly and go to an- 
other one at San Carlos. 

Of course, they Avere dissatisfied. First they 
grumbled, then they threatened, and then they 
rose in open rebellion and left the reservation 
altogether. 

So again Uncle Sam's cavalry must take the 
saddle and there presently ensued such a wild- 
goose chase as the West had never seen before. 
It continued like a colossal game of hide-and- 



222 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 
seek until General Henry W. Lawton became 

Among the spirited Apaches was a famous 
chief named Geronimo and another, hardly less 
notable, by the name of Chato. 

These two Indians were cousins and they pro- 
fessed to hate each other. Chato offered to 
help the troopers in their efforts to rnn down 
Geronimo. But all the Avhile these wily cousins 
were playing a very successful little game on 
the troopers. Chato would send word to Ge- 
ronimo in which direction the pursuit lay, and 
Geronimo would take a different direction. 

Thus Geronimo, with a couple of hundred fol- 
lowers, was able to lead his pursuers a wild- 
goose chase for many days. 

At the outset, Geronimo traveled one hundred 
and twenty miles before making his first camp. 
Try as they might, the troopers could not get 
within gunshot of him, and though the chase was 
pressed for hundreds of miles, the elusive chief 
with his marauding band kept out of reach of 
the Avhite men. 

In the Sierra Madre Mountains were many 
hidden recesses, known to Geronimo, and here 
he lived for a while in comparative safety, flee- 
ing from one refuge to another, subsisting on 
roots and herbs, and enduring privation and 
hardship with all the amazing fortitude for 
which his people were famous. Often he and 



GENERAL HENRY W. LAWTON 223 

his followers went for days without food and 
journeyed for days without rest. 

Now the troopers would be close upon his 
trail ; now he would be miles away. They learned 
at length to place no faith in the advice of the 
wily Chato whose elaborate directions led them 
nowhere. 

But General Crook never despaired, and at 
length the chief and his band were corraled; 
but it was like trying to hold an eel. 

For just one night Geronimo remained a cap- 
tive; then he disappeared. Wliile the soldiers 
were discussing the question of responsibility 
for his escape he stole back to camp in the dark- 
ness of the following night, carried off his wife, 
and was beyond reach again before the troopers 
knew what had happened. 

This was too much. 

Our government had an agreement with Mex- 
ico by which our troopers might pursue maraud- 
ing Indians beyond the Rio Grande when they 
were seeking to escape into Mexico. 

That is exactly w^hat Geronimo did. 

It was then that there appeared conspicuously 
upon the scene that wizard of the chase. General 
Lawton. He took the field with the Fourth Cav- 
alry in March, 1885, declaring that if Geronimo 
were not a myth he would run him down. 

The elusive chief's exploits had, indeed, made 
him seem something of a myth and there were 



224 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

those wlio had come to regard the hunt for him 
as a pursuit of the will-o'-the-wisp. 

But Lawton declared that he would capture 
the slippery Geronimo if he had to pursue him 
to the City of Mexico. 

The resolute trooper was as good as his word. 
The fugitive crossed the Eio Grande, as he had 
done before, but this time with Lawton close 
upon his heels. Then followed an exciting chase 
of over two hundred miles. 

From time to time the chief and his followers 
were approached near enough to permit of at- 
tack, and in each such instance he resumed his 
flight with fewer warriors, but he always re- 
sumed it! 

Farther and farther into Mexico the wearying 
pursuers toiled. They explored canyons so deep 
and dark that through the narrow ribbon of sky 
high above them the stars could be seen at mid- 
day. They lived upon the flesh of wild beasts, 
Avhen they could find them, and in the vast lava 
fields they suffered the pangs of thirst. 

Now and then from some remote fastness in 
the mountains far above them a shred of blue 
smoke drifted on the sultry air followed by the 
spent sound of a rifle shot, which told the keen 
pursuer where his crafty quarry w^as concealed. 

In this intricate wilderness of valley and moun- 
tain horses could not longer be used and Lawton 
ordered his cavalrymen to follow on foot. 



GENERAL HENRY W. LAWTON 225 

**We will walk him do^vn and climb Mm down 
if w^e cannot run him down/' he said to one of 
his men. 

At last, after six weeks of pursuit, the like 
of which for resourcefulness and persistence, it 
would be difficult to find, an emaciated Indian 
made his way to Lawton's lonely camp and said 
that his chief could elude the white man no 
longer and was ready to surrender. 

Unaccompanied, the courageous Lawton made 
his way to the remote spot where his quarry lay 
and kindly received Geronimo's submission. 

The doggedness and vitality and resourceful- 
ness of the amazing Apache had met with a dog- 
gedness and resourcefulness and vitality quite 
as remarkable as his OA\m. No ability to stand 
deprivation, no untiring energy, no fleetness of 
foot or familiarity with swampy retreats and 
mountain fastnesses could save the Apaches from 
this grim and resolute trooper, who galloped as 
long as he could, then climbed after them wher- 
ever they might go, seeing through every ruse, 
undeterred by morass and thicket, pressing the 
pursuit ever more persistently until the weary 
quarry was at last brought to bay. 

For three hundred miles into Mexico the chase 
had been carried. The trail wound in and out 
of canyons and mountain ravines, repeatedly 
doubling upon itself, but with the resolute pur- 
suer ever drawing nearer to the dusky fugitive s^ 



226 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

who at last were so worn out that surrender was 
the only alternative to ntter exhaustion. 

A friend of General Lawton has given us a 
vivid picture of the great trailer as he appeared 
after his phenomenal chase of Geronimo, which 
'we cannot refrain from quoting, for it fixes him 
in the mind's eye as no amount of general de- 
scription could do. 

^^He stood on the Government reservation at 
San Antonio, surrounded by the tawny savage 
band of Chiricahui Apaches, whom he had hunt- 
ed off their feet. Near him, taciturn but of 
kindly visage, stood young chief Naches, almost 
as tall as he. In a tent close by lay Geronimo 
groaning from a surplusage of fresh beef, eaten 
raw. The squat figures of 'the hereditary ene- 
mies of the whites grouped about him came only 
to the general's shoulder. He towered among 
them, stern, powerful, dominant — an incarnation 
of the spirit of the white man whose war drum 
has beat around the world. 

*^Clad in a faded, dirty fatigue jacket, greasy 
flannel shirt of gray, trousers so soiled that the 
stripe down the leg was barely visible, broken 
boots, and a disreputable sombrero that shaded 
the harsh features burned almost to blackness, 
he was every inch 'a s-oldier and a man. To the 
other officers at the post the Indians paid no 
sort of attention. To them, General Stanley and 
his staff were so many well-dressed lay figures, 



GENEEAL HENRY Yv^ LAWTON 227 

standing about as part of a picture done for 
their amusement; but the large, massive man 
with the stubble on his chin had shown them that 
he was their superior on hunting-grounds that 
were theirs by birthright, and they hung upon 
his lightest word." 

What to do with Geronimo was a question. 
He and his tribe bore a bitter grudge against 
the white men, and as long as he inhabited the 
Southwest the ranchmen would feel unsafe. Ac- 
cordingly, he and his leading chiefs were sent 
to Fort Pickens in Florida. Others of the tribe 
were sent to Fort Marion in St. Augustine. 
Here their health became so poor that they Avere 
again removed, this time to Mount Vernon in 
Alabama. 

There were fewer than five hundred of them 
altogether, men, women and children. A school 
was opened by our government, whither the 
Apache boys and girls were sent to receive in- 
struction, and it is pleasant to relate that some 
of the brightest pupils in the well-known Indian 
school at Carlisle were the boys and girls whose 
fathers tried to elude General Lawton in the 
mountain fastnesses of Mexico. 

As for the redoubtable trailer himself, he was 
destined to mn new laurels in strange and far 
distant fields, and we shall pass over his career 
as a soldier in the ordinary sense of the word 



228 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

and follow him again npon the trail — this time 
in the tangled jungles of the Philippines. 

The establishment of peace between the United 
States and Spain did not greatly influence the 
insurgents of the far-off Pacific islands, who, 
inspired by their crafty leader Aguinaldo, kept 
up a troublesome savage warfare against our 
country's forces. 

It is a pity that Geronimo and Aguinaldo could 
not have met, for they would have found much 
in common, both being past masters, not only in 
the art of elusiveness, but in the faculty of in- 
citing their followers by false representations. 

Aguinaldo told his people that they would fare 
worse under American rule than they had under 
Spanish (which was saying a great deal), and 
that our troops must be exterminated. 

The prospect of peace and prosperity for 
which our government was working was very 
soon clouded by the activities of these insur- 
gents, incited by the wily and ambitious Agui- 
naldo. 

Assaults and robberies were committed on our 
troops, citizens and friendly natives were killed, 
clubs were organized to encourage hatred of 
Americans, all boys over sixteen were forced 
to service in Aguinaldo 's ramshackle army, while 
every blacksmith in Manila was kept busy forg- 
ing arms for the insurgent mob. 

There were some intelligent people among the 



GENERAL HENRY W. LAWTON 229 

natives who really desired good government and 
who feared that the United States would become 
disgusted and abandon the islands altogether. 
They pleaded with Agninaldo to write to Presi- 
dent McKinley and beseech him not to take snch 
a conrse, and Aguinaldo promised that he wonld. 
Bnt if he ever did it he neglected to mail the 
letter. 

Aguinaldo formed a plan to drive out all the 
American forces. With the help of his trusty 
lieutenant, Rio del Pilar, whom he called a gen- 
eral, he arranged that the militia of Manila 
should rise and assist in a sudden and over- 
whelming attack on the small army of the United 
States. 

No very definite plans for this crushing attack 
were made, and since Aguinaldo and his *' staff 
could not agree, they fell back on the novel re- 
source of each directing his own *Hroops" in 
his own way. 

This free and easy form of warfare resulted 
in a reign of terror. The peaceful native pop- 
ulation fled in dismay, the streets and houses 
of the towns were deserted, the rural districts 
became infested with marauding bands of mur- 
derous insurgents with about as much military 
discipline as that governing a pack of wolves. 

Conspicuous among the men who braved the 
perils of the fever-laden jungles to root out 
these bands of insurgents was General Lawton, 



230 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

who had been sent to the Philippines for this 
purpose. 

It was altogether proper that he should be 
selected for this purpose, for he was at home 
in mountain recesses and never so happy as 
when in hot pursuit across wide plains, or work- 
ing his way through the labyrinth of some all 
but impenetrable thicket. 

He was indeed the very Francis Marion of 
his later time, delighting in adventurous ex- 
ploits. Inspiring his men with his own conta- 
gious patriotism and spirit, he was the most 
conspicuous figure throughout the early part of 
the fighting in the Philippines. 

He drove the insurgents from the vicinity of 
Manila into the swamps and mountains, pur- 
suing them relentlessly, and no secret cave or 
pestilent lowland was too remote or inaccessible 
for him to penetrate. 

The insurgents, like the Indians of our own 
country, came to regard him as a sort of super- 
natural creature, against whom opposition and 
strategy were useless. 

Returning to Manila in 1899, after a whirl- 
wind campaign in the north cf Luzon, Lawton 
started for the town of San Mateo, where a body 
of insurgents was committing great depreda- 
tions. 

A march of some twenty miles was before 
him, and he led his men through a dense, jungle- 




%. 




GENERAL HENRY W. LAWTON 



GENEEAL HENRY W. LAWTON 231 

covered country in the darkness of niglit. The 
rain fell in such a torrential downpour as occurs 
nowhere outside of the tropics, and the soldiers 
plodded knee-deep through the green slime of 
the morass, cheered and heartened by their in- 
trepid leader. 

Now their way led up some precipitous height 
where tangled underbrush challenged their ad- 
vance; now through some dark and dripping 
glade with no more sign of pathway than there 
is in the waste of ocean; and all night long the 
rain fell. 

Perhaps as this dauntless trailer, undismayed, 
made his way through the tropic maze, his res- 
olute purpose never shaken by storm or swamp 
or jungle or darkness, his thoughts wandered 
back to those days in Arizona when he trailed 
the weary Geronimo and caused even the sea- 
soned pathfinders of the warlike Apaches to open 
their eyes in dismay. He was always fond of 
recalling his quest of the elusive Geronimo. 

At daylight the little force came upon the 
enemy, five hundred strong, entrenched beyond 
a small river. The general formed and ad- 
vanced his troops to within three or four hun- 
dred yards and then, with several officers, rode 
forward to reconnoitre. 

His tall, straight figure made him a conspic- 
uous target for the Filipinos. One of his officers 
earnestly besought him to be careful, but he re- 



232 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

plied: ^^I must see what is going on on the firing 
line. ' ' 

He had advanced hardly twenty paces more 
w^hen he met two of his aides returning. Before 
they had a chance to speak a word they saw him 
start, clench his hands and turn pale. 

*'Are you hurt, General?" one of the aides 
asked. 

*^Yes, I am shot through the lungs," he re- 
plied, as he fell forward with blood pouring 
from his mouth. 

General Lawton never spoke again. In a few 
minutes all was over. No doubt it was fitting 
that this great soldier and trailer should thus 
ride to meet his death through storm and dark- 
ness, through swamp and jungle, and out of the 
fastnesses which never baffled him and which he 
loved so well. 



JOSEPH, THE NEZ PEECE 

How lie arose among his people in the hour of their need; 
of his qualities of scout and pathfinder, and how he 
played a wonderful but losing game with his pursuers. 

It would be strange if a book of scouts con- 
tained no representative of the Indian race, for 
there can be no question of the Indian's suprem- 
acy in many of the qualities which are insepa- 
rably associated with scouting. As a tracker 
and trailer the American Indian has had but 
one rival, and that is the East Indian, whose 
skill in path-finding and kindred arts of the scout 
approaches close to the miraculous. 

We shall find in American history no such 
amazing feats as those recorded of our primi- 
tive American's eastern brother, the authenticity 
of v/hose phenomenal *' stunts" may sometimes 
be fairly called into question. Many amazing 
instances of deductive and tracking skill are also 
related of the Arabs, Avhose proficiency in this 
phase of scouting may be considered as natural 
enough when we remember the vast desert which 
is their home. 

General Sir Baden-Powell, Great Britain's 
Boer War hero, tells of an instance which il- 
lustrates this skill. 

233 



234 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

*'An officer lost liis field glasses during some 
maneuvers on the desert five miles from Cairo, 
and he sent for the native trackers to look for 
them. They came and asked to see the tracks 
of his horse; so the horse was brought out and 
led about, so that they could see his footprints. 
These they carried in their minds and went out 
to where the maneuvers had been; there, among 
the hundreds of hoofmarks of the cavalry and 
artillery, they very soon found those of the of- 
ficer's horse, and follov/ed them up wherever he 
had ridden, till they found the field glasses lying 
where they had dropped out of their case on the 
desert. 

*^ These trackers," the General adds, **are par- 
ticularly good at spooring camels. To anyone 
not accustomed to them, the footmark of one 
camel looks very like that of any other camel, 
but to a trained eye they are all as different as 
people 's faces, and these trackers remember them 
very much as you would remember the faces of 
people you had seen. About a year ago a camel 
was stolen near Cairo. A tracker was sent for 
and shown its spoor. He followed it for a long 
way until it got into some streets, where it was 
entirely lost among other footmarks. But the 
other day, a year later, this tracker suddenly 
came on the fresh track of this camel; he had 
remembered its appearance all that time. It had 
evidently been walking with another camel whose 



JOSEPH, THE NEZ PERCE 235 

footmark lie Imew was one belonging to a camel 
owned by a well-known camel thief. So without 
trying to follow the tracks when they got into 
the city he went with a policeman straight to 
the man's stable, and there found the long miss- 
ing camel." 

The General could hardly tax onr credulity 
more if he told lis what the two friendly camels 
tallied abont as they strolled together. Nor does 
he vouchsafe us much time to digest this ex- 
traordinary episode, for he goes on to describe 
the scouting proficiency of the South American 
cowboys who, we infer, could follow the trail 
of anything short of an aeroplane. 

^^The Gauchos, or native cowboys," he says, 
*'are fine scouts. Though the cattle lands are 
now for the most part enclosed, they used for- 
merly to have to track stolen and lost beasts 
for miles, and were therefore very good track- 
ers. The story is told that one of these men 
was sent to track a stolen horse, but failed to 
follow it up. Ten months later, when in a dif- 
ferent part of the country, he suddenly noticed 
the fresh spoor of this horse on the ground. ^ He 
had remembered its appearance all that time. 
He at once followed it up and recovered it for 
his master." 

As for the uncanny scouts of Hindustan, who 
were said to distinguish family resemblances in 
animals, recognizing the children and grandchil- 



236 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

dren of aged tigers and other beasts miles from 
the parental home, we shall pass these heroes 
over as belonging in the category of magicians 
rather than scouts; and we may do this with a 
clear conscience, remembering that many of the 
feats ascribed to Daniel Boone and Kit Carson 
which have gained currency in Europe have no 
foundation whatever in fact. 

It would be quite possible, if one cared to, to 
divulge some of the exploits of one Woo See, a 
pig-tailed scout of China, whose scouting achieve- 
ments along the headwaters of the Yang-Tse- 
Kiang did him great credit and constituted him 
a fitting rival of Aladdin. 

But we shall renounce these and other temp- 
tations far afield in order that we may see 
America first, and follow the trail of one of our 
own familiar red men whose feats, we apprehend, 
will be quite sufficient to set a test upon our 
credulity. 

As we knov/, many of the scouting qualities 
which the American pioneer acquired he learned 
directly from the Indians. Indeed, it may be 
questioned whether any American scout of the 
white race has ever quite attained the suprem- 
acy of his red brother in tracking and stalking, 
and in that knowledge of the forest which makes 
possible the elusive flights by which the Indian 
has been able to evade capture and baffie pursuit 
for many days at a stretch. 



JOSEPH, THE NEZ PERCE 237 

The white pioneer was not long in the back- 
woods before he had shown his undoubted su- 
periority in marksmanship, a quality which the 
astonished Indian always envied, but could never 
quite master, in anything approaching to the 
white man's accuracy of aim. It has been said 
that the Indian's immemorial use of the bow and 
arrow, his weapon for generations, has operated 
as a permanent embarrassment in his practice 
with the rifle. 

But if his aim was not as true, his foot was 
stealthier and he could approach nearer to a wild 
beast than any of his white neighbors was ever 
able to do. 

Never in the history of the world has the art 
of stealth been developed to such perfection as 
by the American Indian. To let a brittle twig 
crack -beneath his foot in his flight meant dis- 
grace and sometimes death at the hands of his 
own companions. He could follow a trail where 
there was no trail and could conceal himself 
within a yard or two of his pursuers. 

Some of the signs which he used in the forest, 
and which formed a veritable language, have 
been introduced to the Boy Scouts of to-day, but 
these are only the A B C of an alphabet whose 
strange combinations and undeciphered meanings 
are to-day a source of interest and mystery in 
the rocky caverns and mountain fastnesses where 
the Indian once made his home. 



238 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

We shall select to represent the Indian race 
in our galaxy of sconts, Joseph, chief of the 
Nez Perce, not because he was the greatest of 
Indian scouts, for he was not that, although he 
was certainly remarkable, but because his story 
forms a somewhat more or less collected narra- 
tive, and because, as Indians go, he was a good 
Indian. 

Moreover, there was a note of pathos in Jo- 
seph's employment of his scouting qualities 
which adds a hal-o of real heroism to his mem- 
ory. 

When Lewis and Clark made their famous 
expedition from St. Louis to the Pacific Coast, 
1804-1806, they disxiovered, in what is now the 
State of Idaho, a tribe of savages called the ISTez 
Perce Indians. These savages were kind, peace- 
able and hospitable. They welcomed the strange 
white men with dismay, but with every evidence 
of good-will and friendship. It is to the eternal 
glory of Lewis and Clark that they never abused 
such good-will in all their wanderings. The Nez 
Perce Indians continued the unwavering friends 
of the white man until about the close of our 
Civil War. 

They were organized, as most of the tribes 
west of the Rocky Mountains have been, into 
small tribes, but they had no supreme chief. 

About the time our Civil War was ending, 
there appeared among the Nez Perce a man who 



JOSEPH, THE NEZ PEECE 239 

had been appointed by onr Government as In- 
dian agent. 

This agent was a great busybody, and instead 
of tactfully devising means whereby the Indians' 
welfare might be advanced, he straightway set 
about reforming their customs, abolishing their 
cherished superstitions and time-honored cere- 
monies, and altering their social and political 
customs. He had a little too much of the mis- 
sionary in him to be a good Indian agent, and 
the results of his meddling were disastrous and 
far-reaching. 

He thought it would be a good plan for the 
Nez Perce to have a Grand Chief, so he assumed 
the heroic role of king-maker on a small scale 
and selected a certain Indian to fill that post. 
This chief had learned to speak English at a 
mission station, and it was thought by the Gov- 
ernment representative that by reason of this 
accomplishment he could be easily controlled. 

The Nez Perce knew well enough that an Eng- 
lish-speaking Indian would never make a first- 
rate chief. But they accepted him because they 
were of a peaceful and compliant disposition, 
and they waited patiently for him to die. 

It is said that a watched pot never boils, and 
this English-speaking chief was a long time in 
dying. When he finally did die, the Nez Perce 
suggested to the Government officials that they 
would prefer a chief who could not speak Eng- 



240 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

lish. By way of concession, they mentioned that 
they had among them an Indian with an English 
name, Joseph, and they thought that might stand 
in lieu of ability to speak the English tongue. 
Joseph was a member of one of the most illus- 
trious families of the tribe, and the father of 
one of the most remarkable Indians that has ever 
lived. 

But a second English-speaking chief was 
chosen by the agent and old Joseph withdrew 
in disgust from the councils of the Nez Perce. 
His proud old spirit was broken and his dignity 
wounded by these foreign innovations. He never 
ceased to claim the position which his people 
wished to give him. How his aged breast would 
have beat with pride and joy if he could have 
lived to see his amazing son checkmate and out- 
maneuver the white men and win the plaudits 
even of his enemies! 

From time immemorial, the dwelling-place of 
the Nez Perce had been the beautiful Wallowa 
Valley, famous for its healing roots, its abun- 
dant fishing and its fertile fields. Here, un- 
touched and untroubled by any of the devices 
of civilization, they had lived in peaceful con- 
tentment. With the potent herbs of their boun- 
tiful home, they cured the few ills from which 
they suffered, and the time ran on in humble 
prosperity and happiness. 

Then began the old, old trouble. White peo- 



JOSEPH, THE NEZ PERCE 241 

pie began to settle among tliem. As time went 
on these whites became more numerous until at 
last there came a time when they were strong 
enough to win the upper hand. They were at 
no great difficulty in devising measures to dis- 
possess the friendly savages of their beautitui 
valley. Soon came the ^treaty'' period, and the 
poor Nez Perce found themselves putting their 
marks to papers and documents which had no 
meaning to them whatever. 

Between 1858 and 1868 several ^ treaties were 
made between these Indians and the Government 
by which the tribes were provided with a reser- 
vation and some money in lieu of their lands. 

Some of the Indians who were opposed to^ these 
measures became known as '^non-treaty" In- 
dians. Old Joseph and his band refused to go 
upon the reservation and remained in their an- 
cestral home in the "Wallowa Valley. 

In the year 1871, the elder Joseph died m the 
beloved valley which had always been his home, 
leaving his son Joseph as head of his father's 
band. The younger man, like his father, denied 
the right of a portion of his tribe to give up their 
lands. Neither he nor his father had signed any 
treaty to that effect, and he announced his in- 
tention of continuing to occupy the WaUowa 

Valley. 

After a while, settlers began to encroach on 
the lands of the non-treaty Indians. President 



242 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

Grant, who sympathized with them and was 
mindful of the justice of their cause, tried to 
prevent this, but it was a very difficult thing 
to prevent. Finally, he yielded to pressure and 
ordered that all of the Wallowa Valley should 
be thrown open to settlers. 

Presently the settlers began to crowd the Nez 
Perce and the poor Indians remonstrated. In 
answer to their protests they were ordered to 
leave the valley and go to the reservation. It 
is not pleasant to write and it is not pleasant 
to read such facts as these, for they are a sting- 
ing disgrace to our Government. The peaceful 
Nez Perce Indians were to be exiled from their 
ancient home. 

It is gratifying to know that they rebelled 
against this ultimatum and that a great man 
rose among them. 

Young Joseph was tall and straight, his shoul- 
ders were broad, and he bore himself with a 
noble mien. Long afterward, it was the good 
fortune of many to see the Nez Perce hero face 
to face at the ceremonies at the tomb of General 
Grant in 1897, when he attracted the attention 
of thousands by his magnificent presence and his 
gracious and dignified bearing. 

The stories which are told of Joseph's early 
days and of his wanderings in the Bitter Koot 
Eange of the Kockies are imperfect records at 
best, and tinged with the shades of romance. 



JOSEPH, THE NEZ PERCE 243 

But from the very existence of these clustering 
local legends, we may safely infer that his knowl- 
edge of mountain and valley and his wisdom of 
wild life and forest lore must have been very 
remarkable. 

Once, when the specter of famine stalked 
among his people, he went forth into the moun- 
tains in quest of game and, having used his last 
arrow in a vain attempt to bring down a bear, 
he stalked the beast and fell upon it unarmed, 
strangling the monster after a most terrific 
struggle. 

It was said of young Joseph that he could fol- 
low a trail by scent, and though this may be 
doubted, it seems w^ell established that the most 
infinitesimal signs left by prowling creatures 
were quite sufficient to enable him to follow their 
trail. 

The single hair of a bear caught in the bark 
of a tree was a glaring signboard to him; he 
could tell if a tree had been climbed, even by 
a human being, months after the act occurred; 
and he never failed to determine accurately 
whether stones in a stream had been placed for 
fording or had come by their positions naturally. 
A leaf along the way was as full of information 
to him as a printed tourist guide to a modern 
autoist, and he read the obscurest footprints 
with ease. 

Joseph decided that war was the only digni- 



244 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

fied answer to the encroachments from which 
his people were suffering. 

It was in vain that General 0. 0. Howard, in 
command of the Department of the Columbia, 
pleaded with the Government as to the right- 
eousness of Joseph's claim to the Wallowa Val- 
ley. The Government did not heed Howard's 
wise and humane suggestions; and Joseph, who 
had held back for months from a resort to hos- 
tilities in which he was reluctant to engage, at 
last, just before the time fixed for driving him 
from the home of his fathers and when the 
soldiers were preparing to invade his domain, 
plunged into war. 

About the middle of June, 1877, the country 
was startled by the announcement that the Nez 
Perce had risen in Idaho and were on the war- 
path. 

Eushing into a little settlement near Fort 
Lapwai, Joseph's warriors and another band 
under White Bird murdered a score of citizens. 
Captain Perry, who was sent against them, was 
severely repulsed. General Howard made a 
forced march, and came upon the Indians at 
the mouth of the Cottonwood River, where, after 
a bloody engagement in which eleven of his men 
were killed and twenty-four wounded, he shelled 
them from their position and put them to flight. 

Then began the losing, but amazing, career 
of Joseph. Unable long to stand against the 



JOSEPH, THE NEZ PEECE 245 

United States Regulars, Joseph, at the head of 
his band, repeatedly eluded them with masterly 
skill, and led them a wild-goose chase about the 
country. The Government officers were non- 
plussed at his remarkable sagacity and skill. 

The strange chase continued for hundreds of 
miles, Joseph keeping his women, children and 
impedimenta not only intact, but beyond reach 
of his pursuers, who could not but pause in 
admiration of his genius. 

They followed him where they knew he had 
gone, and yet there was so sign of his trail, not- 
withstanding that he led a considerable company 
and carried much baggage. 

Time and again he doubled upon his tracks, 
picked up the trail of his pursuers, and followed 
them when they thought they were following 
him. Again and again they followed his trail 
until it ended abruptly and the chagrined and 
bewildered soldiers retraced their weary way, 
baffled and confounded. No one knew how Jo- 
seph contrived thus to terminate his tracks 
abruptly far from trees or water, and no one 
knows to this day. 

Neither is it known how he crossed ravines 
which his pursuers found it impossible to cross. 
Once, in a delusive moment of elation, the troop- 
ers came upon his well-deiined tracks and fol- 
lowing them found that they branched and that 
these branches branched again and again until 



246 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

there were more branches than troopers. All of 
them ceased abruptly, showing no return tracks, 
except one which went straight to the brink of 
a chasm thirty feet wide. There was no sign 
left of Joseph at the precipitous bed of the 
cleft. 

Time after time this master of mountain and 
forest fooled the seasoned troopers, leading them 
on a wild-goose chase to some supposed haunt 
or camping ground of his, Avhere they would find 
the camp deserted and the birds flown. He out- 
maneuvered his adversaries so completely as to 
make them seem ridiculous. 

Once he lay concealed, almost in the path, 
waited until the troopers had passed, then went 
back and finished some game which they had 
left and which he knew they had procured from 
having heard their shots. Thus he fed his fam- 
ishing party. 

In this singular chase Joseph showed himself 
a master of every ruse which could be used to 
baffle and deceive pursuers. To say that this 
fleeing Nez Perce was a pathfinder and a scout 
seems paradoxical, but in the course of the run- 
ning game he employed, first and last, about 
every item of knowledge, every trick, every sign, 
every resource known to scouts; he exhibited a 
familiarity with every ingenious form of forest 
strategy known to savage and civilized man alike, 
and a foresight and calculation of his enemy's 



JOSEPH, THE NEZ PEBCE 247 

probable moves which was nothing less than 
phenomenal. 

At last the little band, headed by Joseph, 
passed through the mountains of northern Mon- 
tana, where they were confronted by General 
Miles with some regular troops. Even then 
Joseph could not be brought to battle, but skil- 
fully crossed the Missouri, imder the very eye 
of his enemy, and escaped. 

At length, however, his camp was surrounded 
in the Bear Paw Mountains and the brilliant 
savage was brought to bay. It has been always 
so with the red man; his prowess has brought 
him only humiliation in the end; his brilliant 
triumphs have marked the inevitable pathway 
to defeat. We can recall no instance of an In- 
dian's sagacity and ability and almost triumph 
in which one could more heartily wish him vic- 
tory than in the case of Joseph the Nez Perce 
— scout, trailer, leader, and pathfinder of the 
first order. 

Joseph fought with great bravery and with a 
regard for civilized methods which surprised and 
won the admiration of his adversaries. 

Of course, he was defeated. Holding his head 
high and stepping forward with dignified bear- 
ing to where General Howard was sitting on his 
horse, the Indian handed up his rifle. 

*^I am tired of fighting, I am tired of the 
warpath,'' he said. *^Our chiefs are killed. My 



248 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

old friend Looking Glass is dead. The old men 
are all dead. It is the young men who say yes 
or no. He who led on the yomig men is like 
one dead. It is cold and we have no blankets. 
The little children are freezing to death. I want 
to have time to look for my children and see 
how many of them I can find. Maybe I shall 
find them among the dead. I am tired. My 
heart is sick and sad. Hear me, my chiefs! 
From where the snn now stands I shall fight 
no more forever.'' 

General Howard greatly admired the chival- 
rous warrior, whose fine pride touched him 
deeply. Joseph had conducted his whole cam- 
paign from beginning to end with rare skill and 
without any of the outrages and cruelties which 
Indians at war had usually perpetrated. 

The General took his hand and promised to 
be his friend. He had always sympathized with 
the noble chief and his friendly, ill-treated na- 
tion, and he regretted his country's mistaken 
course. 

Howard proved as good as his word and se- 
cured for Joseph and his followers a favorable 
location where they might live in at least partial 
contentment, and perchance forget their wrongs. 

Joseph lived among his people, honored and 
beloved as was his due, until at last he passed 
to the happy hunting ground which is the dream 
of the red man. 



JOSEPH, THE NEZ PERCE 249 

He was by no means the greatest Indian nor 
perhaps even entitled to a place with Tecumseh, 
Pontiac and Philip. He had not Tecumseh 's or 
Pontiac's qualities of statesmanship nor Philip's 
prowess as a warrior. But he was a better 
woodsman and tracker than either of them; and 
if familiarity with untamed nature, and a faculty 
for making it yield its secrets while preventing 
it from divulging one's own, are prime requisites 
of the scout, then Joseph the Nez Perce was a 
scout pre-eminent. 

Unfortunately, like most Indians, Joseph kept 
no journal of his adventures and lacked a biog- 
rapher. So there has been no oiie to sing his 
praises, and his brilliant light has been hidden 
under a bushel. Only the rocks and caverns, 
the mountain ravines and plains and winding 
streams where he fled and hid and baffled his 
pursuers, know the secrets of the ruses which 
he used to puzzle and weary them, and these 
wild and rugged witnesses of his amazing skill 
are as silent now as when they kept his secrets 
for him in the days when his fate hung in the 
balance. 



OLD JOHN SMITH 

How he ran away and joined the Indians; how he made an 
adventurous trip across the plains; of his fights with 
the red men; of his dubious reputation in the West; 
and more particularly of the single occasion on which 
he flinched and lost control of himself entirely. 

The name of John Smith, however much it 
may infest telephone and city directories and be 
met with in every nook and cranny of prosy 
civilized life, is withal a valorons name, and one 
which lias struck terror to the hearts of red men 
from an early period of our history. 

Of the two donghty heroes who have borne 
this cognomen, it is difficult to make a choice 
for presentation in our group of scouts. The 
halo of romance which overhangs the famous 
captain of the Jamestown settlement and his 
dusky Pocahontas has never lost its charm. 

But we shall cast our choice in favor of old 
John Smith of the Plains, because there is that 
flavor of the woolly West about him which most 
boys find so engaging. Moreover, there is an 
abundance (or, as he was himself fond of say- 
ing, an ahundacious quantity) of anecdote in his 
altogether amazing career. He always began his 
reminiscences by lighting his pipe with an ember 

250 



OLD JOHN SMITH 251 

from the camp-fire and saying: **Boys, if I don't 
disremember, it was back in the forties, etc., 
etc." He always said Injuns and varmints and 
critters^ and was in all ways a typical plains- 
man. 

We believe lie killed more Indians than any 
other scout of the West. He abhorred Mexicans. 
He said they were always praying and swearing. 
He was one of the most eccentric and interesting 
characters of the old trail days and was famous 
from Kansas to the Eockies as a hunter, trapper 
and guide. 

We have not been able to ascertain with cer- 
tainty when old John was born, but he himself 
said that he was a youngster *^back in '26," so 
we may infer that he was born about 1810. The 
place of his birth is uncertain also, and the best 
we can do is to state it in the terms used to 
announce the arrival and departure of vessels 
in the present great war by saying that he was 
born ** somewhere" in Missouri. 

In any event, wherever his parental abode was, 
he ran away from it when he was very young 
and gravitated naturally to the fraternity of 
traders whose adventurous lives were spent along 
the Old Trail from the Missouri to Santa Fe in 
New Mexico. 

So susceptible was he to the beguilements of 
savage life that we soon find him hobnobbing 
with the Blackfoot Indians. Finding, however, 



252 THE BOYS^ BOOK OF SCOUTS 

that his own life was frequently endangered by 
their domestic quarrels, he decided to take up 
his abode with a more peaceable tribe, the Sioux. 
If he considered the Sioux peaceable by compar- 
ison we can only say that we should not have 
cared to live long among the Blackfoots. 

But old John (he was young John then) did 
not remain long with the gentle Sioux, for, the 
adventurous vicissitudes of his life taking him 
among the Cheyennes, he became enamored of a 
dusky maiden of that tribe and married her. 

Notwithstanding his adventurous and wander- 
ing propensities, his heart became thus perma- 
nently anchored, and throughout the long period 
of his life he remained a faithful and loving 
husband to his Cheyenne bride. 

Not only that, but the Cheyennes adopted him, 
and much of his after life was spent among them. 
When his trapping and hunting days were over 
and the innovation of the steel rails gave him 
some respite from his old occupation of scout 
and guide, he settled down among his wife's 
people and became a power, not only in their 
councils, but throughout the whole length and 
breadth of the plains. He became very wealthy, 
as wealth was counted on the prairies, as an 
owner of horses, and we regret to say that as 
he grew old he was unable to withstand the 
temptations of prosperity and power. 

He became, indeed, a rapacious old rascal. 



OLD JOHN SMITH 253 

exacting tribute like the Barbary pirates and 
enforcing Ms demands for graft (for that is the 
short and ugly word which applies) by the whole 
power of his savage horde. He had a voice in 
every bargain, and few travelers or Mexicans 
were able to conclude a transaction without old 
John's having something to say about it and 
reaping an outrageous profit for himself. 

^Vhen traders came among the Cheyennes they 
were forced to sell their goods at old John's 
price, and if that were not satisfactory they 
were ordered to leave them as tribute instead 
of their scalps. Travelers, meeting him on the 
trail, discreetly asked his permission to proceed, 
or to shoot buffaloes, or to corral in the vicin- 
ity, which permission he usually granted for a 
consideration. 

So notorious became his unscrupulous power 
that the governor of New Mexico offered a re- 
ward of $500 for his capture. But there was 
none who cared to challenge the anger of the 
Cheyennes, and old John went merrily on, super- 
intending horse trades, exacting lawless tribute, 
and receiving peace bribes until his high-handed 
effrontery became a veritable scandal even in the 
free and easy life of the plains. 

He died in the full glory and exercise of his 
autocratic powers, having lived in such terms of 
intimacy with the Cheyennes that he had become 
almost an Indian in his manners and customs 



254 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

— and assnredly in his viewpoint, which was that 
might makes right. 

Yet there was a time in the life of this re- 
doubtable old robber when the mere sight of a 
little orphan boy caused him to weep. Nay, even 
in later years the memory of a little bird chirp- 
ing innocently on the barrel of his rifle filled hi. "> 
with tenderness and gratitude. 

He was altogether a queer old codger. 

Throughout his life, even in the days of his 
retirement, old John occasionally acted as guide 
and interpreter to army detachments. About 
the camp-fire he always maintained his auto- 
cratic demeanor. Allien Uncle Sam's soldiers 
asked him for a yarn he would, as often as not, 
contemplate them with haughty disdain, blowing 
the smoke from his atrocious old pipe in their 
faces, and vouchsafing never a word. 

But there were times when he condescended, 
though seldom upon request, to rake among his 
adventures. On these occasions he would por- 
tentously remove his pipe from his mouth, and 
scarcely would the promising words, *^Boys, if 
I don't disremember, " be uttered, when there 
would be a veritable stampede in his direction 
and dead silence would reign among his audi- 
tors as he poured forth, amid volumes of smoke, 
random memories of his more active days. 

Let us recast from his own inimitable narra- 
tive one or two of the surprising episodes of 



OLD JOHN SMITH 255 

his life wMcli we can only hope that he did not 
* ^ disremember. " 

It was about the year 1845 (if he didn't dis- 
remember) that he and three companions, Cur- 
tis, Thorpe and Comstock, were returning from 
the Rockies, where they had been hunting and 
trapping for three years. *^Thar weren't no 
roads nor nuthin' in them days — nuthin' but the 
Old Santa Fe Trail and Injuns and varmints.'' 

They were bringing back a goodly stock of 
pelts and were camping along the trail at a spot 
known as Point of Rocks, when a suspicious 
snort from one of the mules convinced the saga- 
cious trappers that Indians were in the neigh- 
borhood. 

It did not take them long to grasp their rifles, 
and very shortly the appalling sound of shots 
farther down the trail confirmed their suspicions 
that something was amiss. Old John made no 
bones of expressing his annoyance that this grim 
duty called just as he was on the point of light- 
ing his pipe for a good smoke, and we may infer 
that it did not altogether dissipate his irritation 
to perceive that all the pother of shots and shout- 
ing was caused by an attack of Pawnees on a 
Mexican bull train. 

John hated the greasers with an ardent hatred, 
but the fighting took on a new color to him when 
he saw three American people — a man, a woman, 
and a little boy — jumping frantically from a 



256 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

wagon which the Indians had succeeded in iso- 
lating from the train and attempting to escape 
from the savages who practically surrounded 
them. 

Before the trappers had a chance to intervene 
the Pawnees had caught and scalped the man 
and carried off the woman. The terrified little 
boy was scampering as fast as he could to reach 
the comparative safety of the caravan with a 
mounted Indian in hot pursuit of him, when Al 
Thorpe, one of the four scouts, ^^draAved up his 
gun and took the red cuss off his critter without 
the paint-bedaubed devil knowin' what struck 
him ! ' ' 

Good for Al Thorpe! 

The little boy made straight for his rescuers 
and they took him to the main body of the car- 
avan and laid him gently in one of the wagons. 

Old John observes, with significant contempt, 
that he and his companions now took matters 
into their own hands, corraling the oxen of the 
bewildered greasers, for ^4f there was to be 
more fighting," he adds, ^Sve know'd we Ameri- 
cans would have to do it, as them Mexican bull- 
whackers weren't much account, nohow, except 
to cavort around and swear in Spanish, which 
they hadn't done nuthin' else since we'd come 
up to the train. ..." 

In a little while the Pawnees, having rallied 
for a pow-wow, returned in full force and with 



OLD JOHN SMITH 257 

deafening yells, to receive the surprise of their 
lives. One after another they were picked off 
their ponies by Smith and his comrades, who 
had constituted themselves the protectors of the 
whole caravan. Old John recalls with great rel- 
ish how not a single one of their shots was 
wasted, and their unerring marksmanship must 
have surprised the greasers quite as much as it 
confounded the Pawnees, who, dismayed at their 
losses, soon decided that discretion was the bet- 
ter part of valor and rode off to the sandhills. 

Smith and his comrades, having decided to 
cast their lot with the hapless Mexicans (since 
their destination was the same), piloted them 
safely eastward without further adventure for 
the time being. 

In those days we see Uncle John at his best, 
not only as a scout, but as guardian of the little 
boy who had been deprived of his parents. No 
one dared to dispute his claim to the little fellow 
who came to have a genuine affection for the 
rough plainsman and an unbounded admiration 
for his bravery. 

The relations of these two form a very pretty 
story, embedded like a jewel in the rude setting 
of that stormy progress eastward over the hot, 
Indian-infested plains. All that was tender in 
the grim, rough scout came to the surface, as 
it seldom did later. He watched over the little 
orphan like a mother, amusing him and telling 



258 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

him stories, and teaching him to fish and hnnt, 
so that the strangely assorted pair became boon 
companions. 

Ten days later they had another rnn-in with 
Indians. 

**It seemed like we hadn't been asleep more 
than an hour when me and Thorpe was called 
to take onr tnrn on guard. We got out of our 
blankets, I putting little Paul into one of the 
wagons, then me and Thorpe lighted our pipes 
and wall^ed around, keeping our eyes and ears 
open, watching the heavy fringe of timber on 
the creek mighty close, I tell you. Just as day- 
light was coming we noticed that our mules, 
what was tied to a w^agon in the corral, was 
getting oneasy. . . . Before I could say to 
Thorpe, *Them mules smells Injuns,' half a 
dozen or more of the darned cusses dashed out 
of the timber, yelling and shaking their robes, 
which waked up the whole camp. 

**Me and Thorpe sent a couple of shots after 
them that scattered the devils for a minute; but 
we hadn't hit nary one because it was too dark 
yet to draw a bead on 'em." 

We can readily believe that there was some 
good reason for the failure to hit the mark. 
Soon it became light enough to *^get a bead on 
'em," and then there were doings indeed. 

**Just as they circled back we poured it into 
'em, killing six and wounding two. . . . Well, 



OLD JOHN SMITH 259 

boys, them varmints made four charges before 
we could get shet (rid) of them, but we killed 
as many as sixteen or eighteen and they got 
mighty sick of it and quit.'' 

We can easily believe that also, and they were 
wise Indians. The measure of their success was 
one dead Mexican (which counted for nothing 
with old John) and an arrow wound in the arm 
of Thorpe. 

**I was amused at little Paul,'' John goes on 
to say, **all the time the scrinunage was going 
on. He stood up in the wagon where I'd put 
him, a-looking out of the hole where the sheet 
was drawed together, and every time an Indian 
was tumbled off his pony, he would clap his 
hands and yell, * There goes another one. Uncle 
John!'" 

In good time the train reached Independence, 
the eastern terminus of the Old Trail, near Kan- 
sas City, ^Svith no more trouble of no kind," 
Smith remarks. We should say they had had 
their full share! 

Here the four trappers sold their pelts **and 
had more money than they knowed what to do 
with." Howbeit, old John ^^ knowed" what to 
do with some of his, for he took little Paul about 
among the shops of that romantic frontier com- 
munity and bought him a pony and had a sump- 
tuous outfit of buckskin made for him from the 
pelt of a black-tailed deer which he had shot in 



260 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

the Eockies. **The seams of his trousers were 
heavy fringed," and he must have been a proud 
youngster as he trotted about with his redoubt- 
able guardian, who was the observed of all ob- 
servers even in that motley community of trad- 
ers, frontiersmen, trappers, Mexicans and the 
like. 

They saw no more of the greaser bull train, 
nor was any trace or hint found as to who little 
Paul was or where he belonged. The child could 
tell nothing himself and seemed to have but one 
desire in life, viz., to remain with *^ Uncle John" 
and fight Indians. The little fellow made a great 
impression among the people of the town and 
several, who must have been exceptionally cour- 
ageous, had the hardihood to propose to ^^ Uncle 
John" that they adopt the child. He did not 
*^get a bead" on these imprudent philanthro- 
pists as one might have expected, but he ** al- 
lowed if there was going to be any adopting 
done I'd do it myself, 'cause the kid seemed 
noAV jes' like he wuz my own." 

After a stay of several months in Indepen- 
dence, Smith, Curtis and Thorpe bought a prairie 
wagon and new outfits and joined a large cara- 
van bound for Mexico, intending to leave the 
company when they reached the Eockies and 
repair to their wonted fastness in the mountains, 
for hunting and trapping. 

With what eager anticipations must little Paul 



OLD JOHN SMITH 261 

have vieAved these delectable preparations for 
their long adventurous journey and their roman- 
tic sojourn in the wild retreats of the great 
range! How the little fellow must have counted 
the days to the momentous hour of departure 
when they bade good-bye to their former com- 
rade, Comstock (whom they never heard of 
again), and turned their faces once more to 
the great plains. 

We may indulge a pleasant vision of that long 
journey in the new covered wagon and imagine 
little Paul a favorite in the big caravan with its 
seventy-five mule teams and its miscellaneous 
traveling community. It must have had all the 
romantic delights of following the circus, and 
we can picture the rough old trapper happy in 
the company of his little ward in sombrero and 
buckskin, fishing, hunting, telling yarns, with al- 
ways a weather eye out for * ^Injuns.'' 

The caravan must have been too imposing in 
its size to encourage Indian attack and the long 
train made an uneventful journey across the 
plains, until at the end of a month they pulled 
up at Bent's Fort, along the headwaters of the 
Arkansas in the foothills of the Eockies. 

Here, in the wild country about the famous 
trading-post, they camped for the night — a night 
destined to be a momentous one in the life of 
old John Smith. 

We shall let him tell of it himself, just as he 



262 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

is reported to have told it to liis comrades years 
later, for there is a note of pathos in his nar- 
rative which we cannot reproduce. 

**I knowed they had cows np to the Fort, so 
jest before we wuz ready fer supper I took Paul 
(he could never leave Paul behind) and started 
to see if we couldn't get some milk fer our 
coffee. It wuzn't far, and we wuz camped a 
few hundred feet from the gate, jest outside the 
wall. Well, we went into the kitchen, Paul right 
alongside of me, and thar I seen a white woman 
leanin' over the adobe hearth a-cooking — they 
had always only been squaws before. She nat- 
urally looked up to find who wuz comin' in, and 
when she seen the kid, all at once she give a 
scream, dropped the dish-cloth she had in her 
hand, made a break for Paul, throwed her arms 
around him, nigh upsetting me, and says, while 
she was a-sobbing and taking on dreadful, *My 
boy! Oh, my little boy!' Then she kind of 
choked again while Paul, he says as he hung 
on to her, ^Oh, mamma! Oh, mamma! I knowed 
you'd come back!' 

**I jest walked outer that kitchen a heap faster 
than I come into it and shut the door. Wlien 
I got outside fer a few minutes I couldn't see 
no thin', like." 

Poor old John Smith! "When we think of him 
back with his dusky squaw among those wily, 
grasping Cheyennes, squeezing his ill-gotten 



OLD JOHN SMITH 263 

gains ont of every barter, lording it over trader 
and greaser with an iron hand and sinking ever 
lower in the scale of dishonor, we must try to 
divert onr thoughts for a moment to the picture 
of the rough old fellow going about in old In- 
dependence with the trusting hand of little Paul 
in his own scarred old paw, buying him ponies 
and goodness knows what not, and happy in the 
little fellow's company. 

And with this pleasanter picture in our minds, 
we shall let him pass on in his lonesome journey 
westward to the mountains which he knew so 
well. He had many more adventures and we 
shall meet him again in the story of another 
scout, but we do not knoAv of any other occasion 
when he flinched and ^^ couldn't see nuthin', like." 

The story of Mrs. Dale's (for that was little 
Paul's name) escape from her Pa\\mee captors 
is remarkable. Choosing a favorable opportu- 
nity, she had selected the fastest pony they had 
and ridden it forty miles until she fell exhausted 
by the trail, where she was picked up in an 
almost dying condition by a caravan. This train, 
on its progress westward, had paused at Bent's 
Fort, where, finding Indian women employed, 
Paul's mother had asked for work in the kitchen, 
intending to bide her time until a caravan should 
stop there, whose leaders she could trust to take 
her to St. Louis. 

*^Next morning," says Uncle John, *^our car- 



264 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

avan went on to Mora, and after we'd bid good- 
bye to Mrs. Dale and Paul, before which I give 
the boy two hundred dollars for hisself, me, 
Thorpe and Curtis pulled out with our team 
north fer Frenchman's Creek and I never felt 
so miserable like before nor since as I did part- 
ing with the kid that morning." 

High up through the rocky passes the old trail 
ran and wound away into the haunts of the mink 
and the beaver and through the dim fastnesses 
where the grizzly made his home. We can fancy 
that we see the lumbering old wagon climbing 
those heights which frown upon the old fort of 
the Bents — farther, farther, and still farther 
into the solemn depths of the hunting and trap- 
ping grounds, until it became a mere speck in 
the distance. 



EUBE STEVENS 

How he was captured by the Indians; how they treated him 
and how he made his escape; of his long ride and how 
he fell in with friends in need and became their com- 
panion; of his grim resolve, of his life as a scout and 
hunter, and of one of the most remarkable encounters 
with Indians in the history of the West. 

It was fortunate for Eube Stevens — Little 
Kube, they called him— that he fell in with old 
John Smith just when he did; for not only did 
Uncle John materially assist in saving Kube's 
life, but, what is more (or rather less), he re- 
counted Enbe's adventures for him— a thing 
which Kube could not possibly have done for 
himself, for he had no tongue with which to 
do it! 

Eube did not, as so many of the Western scouts 
and trappers did, set out with the intention of 
becoming a man of the plains and mountains. 
The number of boys who ran away from home 
in the old caravan days was almost appalling, 
and it sometimes seems to the student of west- 
ern and frontier history that the schools in St. 
Louis might just as well have been closed at 
times, as they are in these more prosaic days 
in deference to an epidemic. 

235 



266 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

But Eube Stevens did not rnn away to join a 
mule train. He was born about 1827 on a farm 
in Pennsylvania, where the years of his early 
youth were passed. When he was about seven- 
teen his parents decided to move to Oregon, 
where his father had taken up a claim. 

When we reflect that to the average stay- 
at-home person a trip across the continent is 
regarded as something of an adventure even to- 
day, we can fancy with what romantic anticipa- 
tions the Pennsylvania farmer's boy contem- 
plated such a journey something less than a 
century ago, and what visions of buffaloes and 
stage-coaches and Indians must have filled his 
young mind. 

Alas, young Rube Stevens was destined never 
to see his father's claim in Oregon. The little 
family made the usual tedious, thirst-haunted 
pilgrimage across the plains, as a part of one 
of the large caravans. They had reached the 
Bitter Eoot Valley in the region which is now 
Idaho and were encamped within sight of the 
Bitter Root Mountains, beyond the gray and 
rugged heights of which lay the promised land, 
when the caravan was attacked by a band of 
Blackfoot Indians and every single member of 
the train was massacred except Rube himself. 

Why they spared the boy, who was then scarce 
seventeen, is not known. It is not uncommon 
to read that this or that hero who became fa- 



RUBE STEVENS 267 

moiis on the plains or in tlie Kentncky back- 
woods was the only one spared in some whole- 
sale massacre, and we can hardly avoid the con- 
viction that a special Providence watched over 
them in consideration of the great things they 
were born to accomplish. 

However this may be, young Rnbe's life was 
spared, and he was taken captive. For a while 
the Indians kept him as a slave; then, on the 
suspicion that he intended to make a dash for 
liberty, they cut out his tongue! Just how they 
expected that this would prevent him from es- 
caping is not exjDlained, but it is IoioynTl that 
the squaws and Indian maidens had both pitied 
and befriended the young captive, and it is not 
improbable that the observant braves appre- 
hended that the soft hearts of their women folk 
would melt completely at the boy's entreaties 
to them to connive at his escape. 

A prisoner who is popular with the fair daugh- 
ters of his captors need not look too despairingly 
upon his shackles and the jailer's key. 

The Blackfoot women, unable to prevent this 
cruel treatment of young Stevens, constituted 
themselves his willing nurses and so skilfully 
treated his wound that but for the loss of speech 
(a great loss, indeed!) the boy suffered no per- 
manent ill effects from his mutilation. 

As you may suppose, vv^hen the Blackfoot 
braves perceived that young Stevens' frightful 



268 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

handicap only increased the tender regard of 
the Indian damsels, they were very angry. Dis- 
mayed at these nnlooked-for caprices of the fe- 
male heart, they visited their jealous wrath upon 
the boy, until the poor dumb fellow resolved that 
he would escape or sacrifice his unhappy life in 
the trying. 

It was more than a year, however, before the 
chance came, and when it did come it was Mars, 
the god of war, and not the gentle goddess of 
compassion, that connived at his escape. 

It befell that the Blackfoot tribe had a mighty 
battle with the ferocious Sioux during which 
the Blackfoot braves were so engrossed with 
their prodigious deeds of valor that they did not 
notice the dumb boy who, mounting the fleetest 
pony they had, rode oif to freedom while the 
sanguinary conflict was at its height. 

But, after all, who can say that the Blackfoot 
damsels had not suggested this and were not 
accessories before the fact? 

All night long and all the next day Eube rode 
like mad. He had a few odds and ends of food 
which, even in his haste, he had not forgotten 
to bring, and partaking sparingly of these he 
managed to subsist for several days. 

He did not know where he was going and he 
did not care, so long as he got away from his 
captors. He felt that the width of the continent 
was not too much to separate him from those 



EUBE STEVENS 269 

bloodthirsty savages, and he continued to ride, 
thongli with less frantic haste, day in and day 
out, until at last he was cheered by the sight of 
a queer little structure built against a ledge of 
rock in a very wild region. 

He was, in fact, in Colorado, and must have 
ridden more than three hundred miles — a dis- 
tance which seems considerable as Ave think of 
it now, but which was nothing to the inhabitants 
of the mountains and the wide plains. We read 
of a plainsman going to visit such and such a 
place as if it were around the corner, and when 
we look it up on the map we find it to be several 
hundred miles away. The game was played on 
a large board in the old caravan days. 

The structure, the sight of which thus glad- 
dened the heart of Kube Stevens, was a small 
ramshackle affair about ten feet high with a hole 
in the roof in lieu of a door — a precautionary 
feature of Eocky Mountain architecture, intend- 
ed to strengthen the half cabin, half dugout, 
against Indian attack. There was a small win- 
dow, scarcely more than a peek-hole, in one of 
the exposed sides. It was a typical hunter's 
shelter, of which there were not a few in the 
Eockies in those days. 

The sound of voices within emboldened Eube 
to approach, not without some trepidation lest 
he might find himself in the fire after escaping 
from the frying pan. But luck favored him and 



270 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

he found himself in the presence of two redoubt- 
able men in buckskin, Al Boyd and Bill Thorpe 
by name, both of whom were widely famous as 
scouts, trappers and guides. Thorpe has al- 
ready been mentioned as one of the companions 
of John Smith in our story of that old hickory 
nut of a scout. 

These men received the poor dumb youth with 
all the bluff hospitality which the wide plains 
and lonely mountains seemed to inspire and 
which was such a fine feature of the rough life 
of the West. 

The destiny of the boy seemed now pretty 
well assured, and under the care and tutelage 
of this experienced pair he began his career as 
a mountain man and scout of the prairies. 

He became, however, that dangerous thing — 
a man with a grievance. As he grew older and 
came to realize more and more the dastardly act 
which had deprived him of the birthright of 
speech, he made a grim resolve that he would 
never leave the prairies where he had been or- 
phaned and cruelly mutilated, and that he would 
consecrate his life to the killing of Indians, 
and woe to the Blackfoot who should cross his 
path! 

The better to carry out his grim resolve, he 
practiced marksmanship with such avidity and 
application that he became uniquely famous as 
a crack shot, even among his steady-handed and 



EUBE STEVENS 271 

steady-eyed companions. ** Praise from Sir Hu- 
bert is praise indeed," and even Thorpe, f anions 
himself as a rifleman, said that the equal of Enbe 
Stevens did not exist in all the length and breadth 
of the plains. 

These three remained together and became 
partners and close friends. They penetrated far 
up into the hannts of the beaver and the mink, 
where they trapped and hnnted,. carrying their 
stock of valuable pelts eastward from time to 
time, and falling in with pack trains, where they 
were always welcome as traveling companions 
and guides. 

Timorous sojourners along the lonely trail 
which wound through the mountains and across 
the dry, wind-swept prairies to the frontier set- 
tlements on the Missouri, heard of the silent, 
keen-eyed Eube and waited and watched for him 
and felt reassured in his company. Many were 
the pack trains which he piloted past the perils 
of Pawnee Rock and other places of shuddering 
memory; and frightful was the blood tribute 
which this silent scout exacted from Pawnees 
and Comanche s — and Blackfeet when his wan- 
derings took him into their haunts. 

Once, after a journey up into the heart of the 
mountains, Thorpe, Boyd and Stevens returned 
to their little shelter among the rocks, and began 
trapping in the vicinity. It was winter and the 
weather was very cold. One day Eube went out 



272 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

along a neighboring stream to examine the traps 
which had been laid at intervals for several miles 
along the banks, while Boyd and Thorpe went 
in another direction hunting for deer. 

After attending to the traps Knbe pressed on 
to a spot where the stream widened and began 
to fish through a hole in the ice. 

Boyd had just brought down a deer and was 
stooping over it when Thorpe called to him: 

^^Drop everything, Al, and make for the dug- 
out! Look there!" 

One glance showed Boyd that a large band of 
Sioux Indians was almost upon them. 

**If we can only get to the cabin," panted 
Al as they ran with all their might, *^we can 
keep off the whole tribe." 

Scarcely had he said the words when Eube 
came running toward them with an Indian close 
upon his heels. He had neglected to take his 
rifle when he went to examine the traps; but 
Boyd had not forgotten his and, raising it with 
characteristic deliberation, he interrupted the In- 
dian's premature yell of triumph and sent the 
savage sprawling upon the rocks. 

Eunning desperately, the three men reached 
the cabin, where they made ready to put up 
what defence they could against the yelling horde 
which was following them. 

Spying through the hole in the side, Thorpe 
was able to count no less than thirty warriors 



EUBE STEVENS 273 

clamoring about the little shelter like so many 
demons. 

The predicament of the three hunters was 
desperate in the extreme. The number of In- 
dians appeared to make their 'Success certain, 
but the awful fate which confronted the three 
made them resolve to sell their lives as dearly 
as possible. 

*^Off with your coats," said Thorpe, grimly. 
^^We'll get along better if they -have nothing to 
lay hold on but our naked bodies." 

Indeed, every slight advantage counted in that 
encounter against -such fearful odds. *^It ain't 
goin' ter be no boys' play," Thorpe observed as 
he stripped himself, and assuredly he was right. 

For such a desperate defence, however, the 
shelter was well constructed. There was no 
means of ingress save the hole in the roof 
through which but one at a time could enter. 
Beneath this Rube grimly took his stand, axe 
in hand, ready to brain the savages as fast as 
they appeared. 

By this time the rifle shot of the Sioux was 
hailing upon the logs of -the little shack *4ike 
rain on a tent," as Thorpe said. Presently, a 
stealthy movement could be heard upon the roof 
and a copper face peered down through the 
opening. Instantly Thorpe's rifle brought the 
prowler tumbling into the little room. 

Another Indian tried to squeeze through the 



274 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

tiny window in the side and presently became 
wedged in the opening, being unable either to 
advance or withdraw. Thorpe took a beaver 
trap and beat out his brains with it. 

Finding these tactics unavailing, several of 
the Indians clambered onto the roof and began 
to tear off the logs. Standing npon a box so 
that his chest was above the opening, Eiibe 
felled two with his axe and these, together vvith 
a couple of logs and another Indian, fell sprawl- 
ing into the room. The two whom Rube had 
struck were dead, and he now despatched the 
other. 

*' Let's see, that leaves twenty-five, I reckon, 
don't it?" queried Boyd. 

It was hard keeping tabs. 

Rube now discovered that no less a personage 
than the chief of the band (whom he distin- 
guished by his war-paint) was descending 
through the larger opening which his braves 
had made, and he assisted him down, intending 
to finish him on the floor. A fearful tussle 
ensued between the chief and Rube Stevens, 
while Boyd, creeping near, sought for an op- 
portunity to stab the Sioux without endanger- 
ing the life of his friend, for the two combat- 
ants were mixed up together like a pair of 
infuriated tigers. At last Rube himself man- 
aged to get out his hunting-knife and put an 
end to his adversary. 



KUBE STEVENS 275 

'* Twenty-four, ain't it?" Thorpe asked. 

*^ Thirty, and six out, twenty-four's right," 
said Boyd. 

They used the body of the chief to plug up 
the hole in the side. ^^ That's 'bout all he's good 
fer," said Thorpe. 

The Indians outside, perceiving now that their 
attempts to enter the cabin were, to say the 
least, fraught with great hazard, began another 
rain of rifle shot which fell harmlessly upon the 
logs. 

*^If we ony hed some more dead Injuns," said 
Thorpe, *'we cud build a reg'lar breastwork. 
We need two more, I reckon, to plug up that 
thar gap," he added, pointing to a break the 
Sioux had made close to the little window. 

As if in answer to his wish, two Indians, more 
courageous than their companions, started to let 
themselves do^YTi through the roof. Instantly 
Boyd, who is represented as a perfect giant, 
grappled them by their throats, one with either 
hand, and strangled them until they fell dead 
upon the floor. 

** Eight out leaves twenty- two," said Thorpe, 
as Eube and Boyd stuffed the two bodies into 
the gap. 

But now the savages, finding the little cabin 
to be a veritable death-trap, hit on the expedient 
of setting it on fire, and the hope which the 
three had entertained of killing, or at least dis- 



276 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

couraging, their yelling assailants was turned 
almost to despair as they realized the purpose 
of the enemy. 

**Thar's ony one thing to do, boys," said 
Thorpe; *^we got to get outer this. You f oiler 
me!" 

The shelter was becoming enveloped in flames, 
while the shrieking Sioux surrounded it, gloat- 
ing over the certain capture of the hunters. 

The three men sallied forth, each carrying his 
rifle in one hand and his hunting-knife in the 
other, and their appearance was the signal for 
such a savage war-whoop as seemed to rend the 
heavens. Instantly they Avere surrounded and, 
though Eube was quick enough to shoot one of 
them, it did no good and onlv served to still 
further infuriate the others. 

The three were made prisoners and Thorpe 
and Boyd, tied back to back, were bound to a 
tree, while Eube was lashed separately to an- 
other one. Some of the Indians then began to 
gather sticks, which ominous preparations even 
the hardened scouts must have contemplated with 
dismay. 

There is a report, which must have passed the 
lips of at least several persons before it was 
finally written down, of the conversation be- 
tween Boyd and Thorpe as they waited, lashed 
back to back and tied to the tree. Probably it 
is fairly accurate. 



EUBE STEVENS 277 

*'What are they going ter do with usT' asked 
Thorpe. 

*^Eoast ns, you bet," Boyd replied. * ^They'll 
find me tongh enough, I reckon." 

^^It mnst be a painful sort of death," Thorpe 
observed 

*^Wall," said Boyd, *4t ain't exactly what yer 
would call the most pleasant sort of one, but 
wot the devil are they doin' ter poor Eube?" 

Kube w^as tied to a tree about a hundred feet 
distant, and as Thorpe craned his neck and pain- 
fully strained his eyes in that direction he could 
see an Indian dancing about the young fellow 
(Eube was still not twenty-one) and brandishing 
a tomahawk. In the face of this appalling dem- 
onstration Rube observed a calm demeanor, never 
flinching, but gazing with a scowl upon the men- 
acing savage. 

In this interval of waiting and preparation 
several Indians who had disappeared returned 
to the scene dragging the carcass of the deer 
which Boyd had shot just before the attack be- 
gan. This they proceeded to make ready for 
cooking, kindling a fire the while, and as if the 
harrowing fate which awaited their victims were 
not enough, the savages, with a refinement of 
cruelty equal to that of a submarine commander, 
proceeded to cook and to gorge themselves with 
savory morsels of the animal which the hungry 
trio had intended for their own repast. 



278 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

For more than an hour the three captives wit- 
nessed this artistic variation of savage torture, 
inhaling the luscious aroma wafted to them from 
the cheerfully crackling blaze, which bore also the 
appalling remainder of their own impending fate. 

The Indians stood about, chatting as they ate 
the toothsome morsels, with anticipatory relish 
of the entertainment which was to follow, when 
suddenly a series of sharp reports rent the air. 

The buffet lunch came to a sudden end as the 
astonished savages beheld seven of their number 
lying dead upon the ground. 

Scarcely had they recovered from their sur- 
prise when another volley rang out and seven 
more of the feasters dropped, their portions of 
venison flying into the air. In another minute 
a half-dozen men in buckskin emerged from the 
forest, who, with hunting-knives and clubbed 
rifles proceeded to work havoc among the few 
remaining savages. Several of them were killed 
in hand-to-hand combat, and the others, seeing 
that their only hope lay in escape, stole away, 
leaving the carcass of the deer still cooking for 
the refreshment of their assailants. 

Conspicuous among these timely rescuers was 
the burly form of John Smith, scout and trap- 
per, w^hom we have already met. He tells how 
one of his companions, Ike by name, having killed 
three Indians with one shot, observed, as they un- 
fastened Thorpe and Boyd, 



EUBE STEVENS 279 

'^I always like ter git two or three of tlie red 
devils in line before I pnll the trigger — it saves 
lead/' 

"We should like to have known Ike; there can 
be no words but those of praise for his Avorthy 
spirit of economy. 

The astonishment an v. relief of the three 
captives, who were now set free, cannot well 
be described, and there are few who wonld be- 
grudge them the savory banquet which by a 
tantalizing fate they had won, then lost, and 
now v^/-on again. 

No longer did the savory aroma torment them ; 
the entire party gathered about the fragrant fire 
and fell to with a relish while Uncle John ex- 
plained how he and his companions had happened 
upon the scene. 

** 'Bout a mile down the creek," said he^ **me 
and six other trappers had a camp, and this 
morning, bein' scarce of meat, we all went a- 
hunting. We had killed two or three elk, and 
was 'bout goin' back to camp with our game, 
when we heard firing and supposed it was a 
party of hunters like ourselves, so we did not 
pay any attention to it at first ; but when it kept 
up so long and there was such a constant volley, 
I told our boys it might be a scrimmage mth a 
party of red devils and we concluded to go and 
see." 

After a while they came in sight of a camp- 



280 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

fire in the distance, and Jolin and one of his 
companions crept cautiously in advance of their 
friends to reconnoiter. What they discovered 
was the very scene which we have described. 
The shots which had aroused them to investi- 
gate must have been those of the encounter be- 
tween the three men in the hut and the Sioux. 

At the sight of Thorpe and Boyd and Stevens 
lashed to the two trees with fagots lying at their 
feet and the Indians regaling themselves in an- 
ticipation of their entertainment, Smith and his 
comrade lost no time in retracing their way to 
their companions where, in a hasty council, their 
course was decided upon. 

So the luscious carcass of the deer was des- 
patched with great relish by its rightful owners 
and their welcome guests ; and if the feast lacked 
the gracious accompaniment of genial converse, 
it was not because there was notliing to talk 
about. Uncle John tells us that the whole party 
went back to his and his companions' camp, 
where they *'made a night of it," so we may 
infer that they knew how to celebrate good for- 
tune and timely deliverance from peril. 

It would add a touch of piquancy to this re- 
markable episode if we could picture the es- 
caping Sioux as wandering famished in the 
Eockies with the haunting aroma from the crisp 
and luscious deer forever assailing their nostrils. 

But there is no ground for placing any such 



EUBE STEVENS 281 

moral top-knot npon our tale. Already tlie whole 
affair smacks rather suspiciously of the dime 
novel. But in plain fact it occurred, substan- 
tially as described, and constitutes another of the 
many instances in which truth is indeed stranger 
than fiction. If this matchless gem of adventure 
in its fine wild west setting had been embodied in 
a story for boys we may be sure that it would 
have been diluted by much heroic and extrava- 
gant talk and its actors made ridiculous as 
Boone and Custer and Cody and Carson and 
Sitting Bull and all the rest of them have been 
made ridiculous, by having put into their mouths 
vaporing speeches which they would never have 
uttered. 

The subsequent life of our hero, Eube Ste- 
vens, was adventurous to a degree. Thorpe was 
later killed by the Indians and Boyd disappears 
from notice. Very likely he v/ithdrew, as many 
of his ilk did, into the hunting grounds of the 
Kockies, there to live out his da3^s and die in 
the remote obscurity of those mighty heights. 

Eube was seen thereafter upon the plains, 
where he acted as guide and scout for many 
caravans and more than one exploring party. 
Much of what we know about the scouts of the 
great "West is gleaned from their own verbal 
reminiscences, bandied about in camp or corral 
and passed from lip to lip, until it has filtered 
into our literature and history. 



282 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

But Eube Stevens was the silent scout, for lie 
conld not talk. However, Uncle John did his 
talking for him, and next to one's own tongue 
we should say that Uncle John's was about the 
best procurable for purposes of friendly remi- 
niscence. If we were a hero we should much 
prefer to commit ourselves to Uncle John's keep- 
ing than to that of the average modern story- 
teller, after whose ingenious treatment we should 
probably have great difficulty in recognizing our- 
selves and our most chivalrous deeds. 



GENEEAL GEOKGE A. CUSTER 

How he became a romantic figure In the Civil War and 
of his picturesque followers; how he became an Indian 
fighter and pursued the Cheyennes, together with the 
particulars of how he put an end to the outrageous 
career of Black Kettle, and how he lost his life fight- 
ing the Sioux. 

Among the picturesque heroes in our history 
General George A. Custer must be counted one 
of the most conspicuous and striking. He had 
that quality which is called dashing and he meas- 
ures up in all ways to the artistic requirements 
of romance. 

He was the typical Indian fighter, as Robin 
Hood was the typical outlaw. Dame Nature 
(who has a good deal to do with these things 
and has always a fine eye for effect) saw to it 
that General Custer was generously equipped 
with the features which befitted his role. 

He was of a noble presence, with eagle eye 
and flowing hair and the gracefully drooping 
mustache which only heroes should wear. His 
mien, as he sat upon his gallant charger, was 
nothing less than magnificent. In appearance 
he had only one rival, and that was Buffalo Bill. 

Though a soldier of the army, he affected the 

283 



284 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

buckskin costume of the scout. He was a famil- 
iar and engaging picture about the romantic 
camp-fire, and the latter part of his splendid 
career was so closely identified with Indians and 
the woolly West that he seems the very incarna- 
tion of adventure. 

He was the kind of hero who was always 
having horses killed under him and holes shot 
through his hat. How many horses suffered this 
fate it would be hazardous to say, but in the fic- 
tion which tells of Custer the number runs very 
high. History places it somewhat lower. Nor 
would he venture an estimate as to how many 
holes were shot through his picturesque som- 
brero, but they were certainly enough to venti- 
late it. 

Volumes have been written about General Cus- 
ter. His widow wrote several, and with these as 
a basis innumerable stories have been concocted 
representing him as a marvel of dashing prowess. 
He was undoubtedly a very brave and, alas, a 
very reckless man. 

^* White Chief with Long Hair," as the Indians 
called him, was born in Ohio on the 5th of De- 
cember, 1839, so that he was only thirty-seven 
years of age at the time of his tragic death — a 
period all too short, one would say, for so much 
adventurous accomplishment ! 

His early years were spent on the farm of his 
parents and he received a good education, com- 




GEN RAL GEORGE A. CUSTER 



GENERAL GEOEOE A. CUSTEE 285 

pleting his studies at the Hopedale Normal School 
in Ohio. AVhen he was twenty-eight years old 
he was appointed to the Military Academy at 
West Point, where four years later he graduated 
with — ^you thought I was going to say with high 
honors. Nothing of the kind, for he graduated 
at the foot of his class. 

But he was not at the foot of his class in the 
grim, hard school of the Civil War, where his 
hat received its first honored puncture. During 
the winter of 1862, while he was awaiting orders 
to active service, he won his first triumph in the 
hand of Elizabeth Bacon — a true affinity if ever 
there was one, for she accompanied her husband 
in his adventurous campaigning in the West, 
sharing all of the hardships and many of the 
perils of the rough camp life. The pair were 
not married, hoAvever, until 1864, when the proud 
young groom introduced the innovation of taking 
his young bride with him to his headquarters in 
the field. 

Before that, in June of 1863, Custer was ap- 
pointed a brigadier-general of volunteers. He 
soon won a unique fame in the army as *^the boy 
general with the golden locks," and a romantic 
figure he must have been, confirming by his ready 
gallantry the high opinion which his comrades 
of every rank had formed of him. He was, in- 
deed, a most captivating young man, with his 
flowing locks and his reckless bravery. 



286 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

In October, 1864, when he was only twenty-five 
years old, he was made a major-general of vol- 
unteers, his promotion being the direct conse- 
quence of his bravery, and he was the youngest 
man in the army to hold that rank. 

It was as commander of the Third Division 
of Cavalry that Custer's fame spread in the 
army. His men, who seemed unable to resist 
the charm of his personality and the contagion 
of his dashing mien, imbibed the spirit of their 
leader and unconsciously assumed his manner. 
They wore their hair long, they affected cavalier 
hats like his, and flaunting red scarfs which 
trailed in the wind with a fine abandon as they 
galloped along. 

Truly, a motley outfit, with all the dash and 
glamor of the valorous knights of old; and if 
the setting had been the ancient Wars of the 
Eoses instead of our own great civil strife, young 
Custer and his cavalry would hardly have been 
out of place. 

We must not follow the history of this heroic 
little band as it galloped through the Civil War. 
Eleven horses (verified) were shot under General 
Custer and his hat, it is reported, became a 
veritable colander. In six months he captured 
over a hundred pieces of artillery, sixty-five 
battle flags and more than ten thousand pris- 
oners. During this time he did not once meet 
with defeat. 



GENERAL GEORGE A. CUSTER 287 

He was the most daring raider that ever 
crossed an enemy's lines. He loved danger and 
was always ready to take his life in his hands. 
He fought from Bull Run to Appomattox with 
tireless energy and with a spirit that knew no 
fear, and when the end was in sight it was he, 
and appropriately he, who received the flag of 
truce with the momentous tidings that General 
Lee was at last ready to surrender. 

At the close of the Civil "War the **boy gen- 
eral'' was ordered with a division of cavalry 
to Texas. The next year his gallant service was 
rcAvarded by promotion to the rank of major- 
general in the regular army, a distinction indeed 
for a young man not yet past his twenty- seventh 
year! 

We must now follow this gallant young man 
in his headlong career to the field where his ac- 
tivities bring him more especially within the 
compass of our plan. 

Most of the brief accounts of Custer (and in- 
deed there should be no brief accounts of such 
a man) deal almost exclusively with the cam- 
paign which terminated his meteoric career, and 
his adventurous life upon the plains prior to that 
time has been neglected. 

In 1866 his career as a typical scout and In- 
dian fighter may be said to have begun when 
he was ordered to Kansas with his famous Sev- 
enth Cavalry to check the Indians who had been 



288 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

conducting a very carnival of crime and depre- 
dation, scalping men, kidnapping womeii and 
children, stealing horses, attacking stage-coaclies, 
burning ranches, and carrying things generally 
with a high hand. 

In all this bloody game only eleven Indians 
had been killed when Custer rode upon the scene. 
It was winter and it was not the habit of the 
Indians to exert themselves greatly in that sea- 
son. Neither was it the habit of Custer to sit 
around and wait for spring. 

The army was encamped in the Indian Terri- 
tory and General Sheridan was in command of 
the Department. A plan was formed by which 
Custer should lead his men southward on a scout- 
ing expedition, while Sheridan himself should 
explore the country north and west -as soon as 
he could get his larger force in condition to 
march. 

At four o'clock in the morning on November 
23rd, the thermometer in camp stood at ten 
below zero and the tents were almost buried un- 
der a blinding snowstorm. Not very propitious 
weather, one would -say, in which to scout for 
obstreperous Indians. 

''What do you think of this?" General Sher- 
idan asked, as the beautiful snow descended 
upon him. 

^^Fine!" said Custer. '* Couldn't be better. 
We can move, but the Indians can't." 



GENERAL GEORGE A. CUSTER 289 

General Sheridan beat his ears and shook his 
head and said nothing. He knew Custer. 

After a hasty breakfast the indomitable Cus- 
ter and his troopers, looking more like a group 
of arctic explorers than a scouting party, rode 
forth into the furious blizzard, while the army 
band played The Girl I Left Behind Me, 

With the aid of a pocket compass Custer led 
his troopers through wind and snow with the 
blinding hurricane beating in their faces. It is 
surprising that this extraordinary march is not 
more famous than it is, for it was certainly a 
most remarkable one. 

All through the morning they plodded on knea- 
deep in snow, across the vast, wind-swept plains. 
The guides, returning, pleaded that they could 
not possibly lead the troops, but the intrepid 
Custer, depending only upon his little compass, 
pressed on. 

Early in the afternoon they made camp, kin- 
dled a fire, and proceeded to prepare dinner. 
At night they corraled their equipment and were 
off -again early in the morning. 

On the second day there was some abatement 
of the storm but the cold continued, and as the 
sturdy troopers plodded on their sufferings were 
intense. 

There is no wind like the wind of the plains. 
Unconfined and unobstructed it pursues its mad 
career, tearing up the sand in summer and the 



290 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

snow in winter, and assailing the wayfarer with 
unprecedented fury. 

In such surroundings the troopers passed 
Thanksgiving Day, pausing long enough to eat 
their scanty fare, which must have been a dis- 
mal reminder of the festive celebration of their 
friends at home. 

At last, after untold hardships, they reached 
the Canadian Eiver. Here General Custer de- 
tached a small body of troops to follow up the 
stream and scout for Indians while he, with his 
main force, crossed to the opposite side and 
continued their march. 

The river was, of course, frozen, but the ice 
was not thick enough to bear the weight of the 
wagons, so they were forced to break the surface 
here and there until they found a place which 
they could ford. 

The crossing of the frozen Canadian by Custer 
and his men rivals Washington's famous cross- 
ing of the Delaware. Scarcely had they reached 
the opposite shore when a man on horseback 
approached them at breakneck speed, who proved 
to be a scout of the small body which Custer 
had sent up the river. 

This man brought tidings which fell like a 
bombshell among the troopers. He reported that 
Major Elliott, who was in command of the small 
party, had discovered a trail in the snow which 



GENERAL GEORGE A. CUSTER 291 

conld not, lie believed, be more than twenty-four 
hours old. 

Custer sent the scout back posthaste with or- 
ders that the trail be followed until evening, 
when the party should camp and await his ar- 
rival. He then directed his men to leave the 
wagons and baggage in charge of a small guard 
and follow him with as much expedition as pos- 
sible to the spot where the trail had been dis- 
covered. Custer himself started immediately. 

The troopers, divested of everything except 
absolute necessities, were soon in his wake and 
ere long the indomitable leader and his resolute 
men w^ere upon the trail which Major Elliott had 
discovered. Hour after hour they followed it 
through the deep snow, and it was long after 
dark when they reached the camp of Elliott and 
his men. They found it to be in a deep ravine, 
and here, effectually concealed and fairly well 
sheltered, the reunited troopers made their even- 
ing repast of hardtack and coffee. 

As soon as they had rested and the moon had 
risen they took up the trail, plodding on through 
the snow, until Little Beaver, the general's In- 
dian scout, came back in great excitement to say 
that he smelled fire. On this report Custer with 
several scouts hurried on in advance and dis- 
covered upon an eminence in the distance what 
appeared to be the unextinguished remains of a 
camp-fire. For a time there was great excite- 



292 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

ment among the little advance party and hope 
ran high; but it was soon discovered that the 
light was merely from the embers of a plains- 
man's fire. 

Still Custer and his scouts pressed cautiously 
forward, the main body of troopers following 
at a distance. The next night one of his scouts 
discovered smoke in the distance and shortly 
they could hear voices, thin and spent, which 
convinced them that they were approaching a 
considerable encampment of Indians. Anxiously 
they awaited the morning. 

They had, indeed, almost overtaken a formid- 
able band of Cheyennes, under command of the 
redoubtable scoundrel, Black Kettle, whose name 
should have been Black Soul, for if ever there 
was a fiend incarnate Black Kettle was that in- 
dividual. The catalogue of his bloody crimes 
would have shocked old Sitting Bull, who was 
no saint, and would have excited the jealous 
envy of King Philip. 

This was the band that Custer was after. 
This was the unspeakable wretch, the thought 
of whose possible capture had inspired the gal- 
lant 4:rooper through those miles of wind and 
snow. 

There he was, comfortably ensconced in a val- 
ley, the cheery smoke from his camp-fire rising 
in the clear, cold air, and the numerous little 
cone-shaped tepees of his camp plainly visible. 



GENERAL GEORGE A. CUSTER 293 

Delighted at this successful termination of Ms 
quest, General Custer lost no time in xolanning 
for the attack. After a careful survey from a 
neighboring hill he decided that the Cheyenne 
encampment should be approached by four par- 
ties from four different directions, one of which 
should be led by himself. Major Elliott was 
to lead a second and the remaining two were 
in charge of Captain Thompson and Captain 
Meyers respectively. 

Long before daylight on the following morning 
the four divisions were in motion, and shortly 
they separated for their long detours. The mo- 
ment of attack was set for da^^^l and it was 
hoped that the four bodies of troops might close 
in upon the unsuspecting encampment and com- 
pletely surprise them. 

But Black Kettle was not to be caught nap- 
ping. With the first glimmer of dawn the ap- 
proach of the troopers was discovered and a 
pistol held, it was afterward learned, by the 
chief himself, gave warning of the presence of 
the converging host. 

Secrecy being no longer possible, the intrepid 
Custer ordered the bugle sounded, and its at- 
tenuated note, floating far upon the crisp morn- 
ing air, bore the signal to the other commands 
to advance with all haste upon the encampment. 

With Custer's party was a little band which 
had enlivened the weary march with many 



294 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

sprightly tunes. Turning to these heroes of the 
fife and drum, Custer ordered them to play 
Garry Owen, which was a prime favorite with 
his men, and under the inspiring strains of this 
lively air they dashed forward to the charge. 

If Black Kettle was not surprised, he was none 
the less dismayed. He had supposed that the 
winter, .and such a winter, would afford him 
and his marauders temporary immunity from 
pursuit, and lo, here was a white man with long 
hair and dashing mien, who pursued his quarry 
with the same grim determination in -the winter 
as he would do in the good old summer-time. 

On he came at the head of his troopers, some 
of them on their chargers, others running afoot, 
and the band plodding heroically through the 
snow, and blowing out its enlivening melody. 
From other sides the attacking parties advanced 
and presently the valley was the scene of tur- 
moil and battle. 

The lawless Cheyennes were doomed from the 
moment when the signal strain of Custer's bugle 
rent the air. They had reckoned without rue, 
for never before had a band of troopers sought 
them through their supposed protection of cold 
and snow. 

Black Kettle, with all his evil deeds upon his 
head, went down to a merited death, fighting like 
a demon. He had been a kettle of crimes indeed 



GENERAL GEORGE A. CUSTER 295 

— one of the worst Indians of one of the worst 
tribes that ever infested the plains. 

Here and there the Cheyennes concentrated and 
fonght desperately, the women, who were spared 
by the troopers in all cases, joining in the combat 
and fighting with the aggressive energy of mod- 
ern -snifragists. 

Now and then one of Cnster 's men fell, bnt the 
loss among the Indians was far more heavy. 
Major Elliott and a few men, pursuing a group 
of fugitives, encountered a larger force, and all 
of Elliott's men were killed, their fate not be- 
coming known until some time later. 

Having thus destroyed the chief mischief-maker 
and most of his marauding followers, Custer pur- 
sued- the survivors, who, broken in spirit and in 
a pitiable confusion of fright, went scampering 
down the valley, leaving their lodges and ponies 
to the triumphant troopers. There remained, too, 
a few terrified squaws who were in a state of 
panic at the fear of being massacred, and one 
sagacious female, said to have been a sister of 
Black Kettle. 

This astute lady, perceiving Custer and his 
sturdy men to be invincible, now sought by the 
gentle art of matchmaking to propitiate the gen- 
eral, and bringing forth the fairest damsel of the 
almost deserted village, she shrewdly offered her 
to the conqueror as his blushing bride. The gen- 



296 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

eral, smiling graeionsly, acknowledged her gener- 
osity, but declined the fair tribute. 

Thus ended the organized marauding career of 
the thieving Cheyennes. Fugitive bands of them 
still preyed upon travelers along the Old Santa 
Fe Trail, but their power was broken since the 
redoubtable Black Kettle was no more. Custer 
had cleaned them out with grim thoroughness, 
and thereafter his name spelled terror to the 
Indians of the Southwest. 

This was by no means the end of the gallant 
trooper's career in Kansas and the Indian Ter- 
ritory, but we must now follow him northward to 
the region where a tragic fate was to complete 
his romantic and restless life. 

In the year 1875, General Custer was sent into 
the region known as the Black Hills, to explore 
the country, observe conditions, and make an ex- 
haustive report on all he found. With him was 
a strong cavalry force. 

The region was one which had been set apart 
by our government as a reservation for the pow- 
erful and warlike Sioux Indians. They were the 
most numerous of all the tribes and more difficult 
of conquest than any of the other savage nations 
within our national domain. It was supposed that 
if they rallied all their strength they could muster 
fifteen thousand warriors — a formidable legion 
when compared with the predatory tribes of the 
Southwest and the nations of the Pacific Slope. 



GENERAL GEOEGE A. CUSTER 297 

The Black Hills, which had been assigned to 
them, occupy portions of what is now Dakota and 
Wyoming, and here they lived, reconciled but 
never satisfied, and always with a jealous eye 
upon the whites who came among them. 

In particular, their old chief. Sitting Bull, 
viewed with inhospitable and ominous silence 
the agreeable surprise expressed by travelers 
stopping at his rugged home, and he contem- 
plated Custer and his seasoned troopers not al- 
together in the light of welcome guests. 

General Custer, always sanguine and enthu- 
siastic, was charmed with the fertility and beauty 
of the region, and he embodied in his report a 
glowing prophesy of its development. He de- 
scribed it as another Florida in the varied ex- 
uberance of its floral beauty, and extremely rich 
in precious metals. 

As a consequence of his glowing representa- 
tions, adventurers from every part of the con- 
tinent began to pour into the Black Hills, and 
Sitting Bull saw the home of his people overrun 
with a growing horde of settlers and wealth- 
seekers, encouraged by the government quite 
regardless of the Indians' rights. 

Naturally enough, a cloud of discontent over- 
spread the Sioux villages, and there were omi- 
nous signs of an impending storm. 

At last the expected happened. The famous 
chieftain was asked to sign a treaty giving up 



298 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

part of his lands and agreeing to remain within 
the bounds of a certain new reservation. Sitting 
Bull refused. 

He and his people were then notified that if 
they did not remove to the specified reservation 
before January, 1876, they would be treated as 
enemies of the government. Sitting Bull an- 
swered that he had always been an enemy of the 
government, and he refused to stir. 

In the spring of that year, therefore, the reg- 
ulars opened the campaign which is known as the 
Sioux War. 

Sitting Bull chose a strong position in the rug- 
ged country of southern Montana, known as the 
Bad Lands, and here the warriors of the great 
Sioux nation flocked to his standard by the hun- 
dreds. 

The plan of the regulars was to advance against 
this formidable array in three columns, converg- 
ing toward the big Sioux encampment from three 
directions, thus hemming in the whole enemy 
horde and destroying it. The column approach- 
ing from the "West was to be led by General Gib- 
bon; that from the South by General Crooke; 
and that from the East by General Terry. The 
force led by Terry was by far the strongest of 
the three, for it included the famous Seventh Cav- 
alry, six hundred strong, commanded by the gal- 
lant General Custer. 

It was believed that any one of these forces 



GENERAL GEORGE A. CUSTER 299 

conld defeat the Sioux and tliat the three, acting 
simnltaneously, could utterly overwhelm them and 
force them, willy nilly, upon the reservation. 

We shall not here follow the expeditions led 
by Crooke and Gibbon more than to say that they 
were greatly disappointed in their expectations, 
finding the warlike Sioux (at the points where 
they encountered them) to be very much better 
equipped and stronger in numbers than they had 
dreamed. Our interest is with the column com- 
manded by General Terry, and more particularly 
with that part of it under the gallant Custer. 
Custer, indeed, might have commanded the w^hole 
column but for an unfortunate political squabble 
in which he had allowed himself to participate, 
and which had brought upon him the displeasure 
of President Grant. 

On May 17th, the column marched from the 
headquarters at Fort Lincoln, parading before 
the women and children to reassure them by its 
imposing appearance, for it was realized by all 
that the work in hand was grim and dangerous. 
Conspicuous in the martial display was the pic- 
turesque figure of Custer with his seasoned cav- 
alrymen, most of whom had seen service on the 
plains in Kansas. Again his trusty band played 
Garry Oiven, It is related that the whole column, 
having started out, paused upon the plains near 
by in order that the men might bid a last farewell 
to those they were leaving behind. Then, to the 



300 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

music of The Girl I Left Behind Me, they marclied 
away, the vivid scarfs of Custer's gallant legion 
floating in the breeze as the horses reared and 
pranced to the sprightly air. The girls they left 
behind them never saw them again, for not one 
of the Seventh Cavalry returned; and no one to 
this day knows exactly how they died. 

General Terry's column moved up the Yellow- 
stone Eiver as far as the Eosebud, where they 
made a fortified camp. On June 22nd, General 
Custer with his cavalry rode from this camp in- 
tending to move around to the south and up the 
Eosebud, where they hoped to surprise the In- 
dians encamped there and drive them into the 
grip of the larger force. 

Three days later Custer came upon the main 
trail of the Sioux, which he followed until it 
brought him into a region known as the Big Horn 
Valley. Satisfied that the Indians were at no 
great distance, and that an encounter must shortly 
occur, he detached seven companies under Major 
Eeno and sent them forward to attack the In- 
dians from the "West while he himself assailed 
them from another point. The details of General 
Custer's plan are not clear and our information 
is limited to what actually happened. 

Before Major Eeno had a chance to surprise 
the foe, he was attacked by them and forced to 
remain on the defensive for a whole day. It has 
been alleged that he did not fight bravely, that 



GENEEAL GEORGE A. CUSTER 301 

he lost his nerve, and some have gone so far as 
to say that he was a coward. 

Be that as it may, Custer with his remaining 
five companions unexpectedly came upon the 
lower end of the Sioux camp. To his conster- 
nation he found it to be of immense size and 
much more formidable in every way than the 
force which he had expected to encounter. 

But without hesitation he immediately charged. 
All we know of this sad affair has been learned 
from the Indians themselves, since not a single 
white man survived. 

Within a very few minutes the gallant and 
reckless Custer found himself surrounded by a 
savage horde, greatly outnumbering his little 
force, and with the prospect of easy vengeance 
upon their hated foe. All historians agree that 
the Seventh Cavalry fought gallantly, but the full 
particulars of what actually took place can never 
be known. 

Perhaps it is just as well that they should not 
be kno^^^n. There were about two hundred of the 
troopers and every one of them, including the 
brave Custer, was massacred. One of his Indian 
scouts. Curly by name, wrapped himself in his 
blanket and managed to get away before the work 
of horror was well started. 

There was one other to escape. A splendid 
horse, which had earned the right to be called a 
veteran, was discovered some days later near the 



302 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

bloody field, suffering from several bnllet wounds. 
His name was Comanche, and he had formerly 
borne one of Custer's troopers across the snowy 
plains of Kansas, through the wind and storm, 
to the encampment of the Cheyenne scoundrel, 
Black Kettle. 

Since we have had to relate some facts not 
altogether to the credit of our government in its 
dealings with the Indians, it is pleasant to relate 
that Uncle Sam knew how to treat a veteran horse 
even if he did not always know how to treat the 
Sioux and other Indians. 

Comanche was ordered taken to Fort Eeilly in 
Kansas, the wind-swept plains of which district 
he knew so well, and where he had once reared 
his noble head to the inspiring tune of Garry 
Given. Orders were given by the Secretary of 
War that he should be treated with the utmost 
kindness as long as he lived, and no one was ever 
permitted to mount him. 

In time he recovered fully from his wounds, 
and when he was led forth upon parade, wearing 
his old Seventh Cavalry saddle and bridle, he was 
always greeted with deafening cheers, which were 
surely no more than the just due of the only sur- 
vivor of the Custer Massacre. 





CURLY, SURVIVOR OF THE CUSTER BATTLE 



JAMES BEIDGER 

How lie became a hunter and trapper in tlie Rockies; of his 
discoveries and exploits, and of how his name became 
forever associated with that of the great range. 

IiT the good old days about half a century ago 
a group of men sat about a large table in a tem- 
porary structure which formed one of the few 
poor buildings in the little mountain hamlet of 
Denver, Colorado. 

Before them was spread a rough map and 
many papers, and upon their faces were the in- 
dubitable signs of dejection and perplexity. 

These men were not scouts, they were engi- 
neers, and they had made an heroic progress 
westward armed with compasses and transits, 
for they were planning the line of the great 
Union Pacific Railway. 

All about them, and especially to the westward, 
rose the frowning heights of the Rockies, and 
how to get past this mighty obstacle, with their 
steel rails, was the question. 

Of course, they knew they could not storm and 
conquer the Rockies as a gallant army may storm 
a fortress. They would have to find a way 
through, and where to look for such a pass in 
all that tremendous, rocky jumble which frowned 

303 



304 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

upon them and challenged them, had been a mat- 
ter of disconraging debate for some days. 

At last an old pioneer said, ^^Why don't yer 
ask Jim Bridger!" 

*^Who is Jim Bridger? Is he an engineer?" 
inquired one of the railroad men. 

'*A engineer? Lord, no! Jim Bridger, he's a 
mountain man, an' he knows these here pesky 
Kockies as nobuddy else ever did nor yet ever 
will. He'll show yer the likeliest way, quick as 
he 'd shoot a grizzly. You send for Jim Bridger ! ' ' 

Further inquiries about Jim Bridger disposed 
the railroad men to summon him into their august 
presence, and on learning that he was at that time 
in St. Louis, they sent him a pass via the overland 
stage with the request that he come at once to 
Denver. They did not mention what they wanted 
to see him about, for railroads and railroad mag- 
nates were as independent then as they are now. 

In good time there ambled lazily forth from the 
rattling old stage-coach a weather-beaten, deeply 
tanned, wrinkled man in buckskin who betook 
himself leisurely to the tavern, where he spent 
the evening greeting his. old friends and resting, 
without so much as a thought or a question as 
to the reason for his urgent summons across the 
wide plains. 

It w^as not until the next morning, indeed, that 
he casually inquired who ^Uhem critters wuz" 
who had magnanimously favored him with such 



JAMES BRIDGER 305 

sumptuous traveling accommodations across the 
prairie. On hearing that they were railroad men 
who wished to consult him about passes through 
the Eockies, he joined a card game with several 
of his whilom cronies and whiled away the morn- 
ing in friendly play and converse about trapping 
and hunting in the mountains. 

This is not the way that people treat the Union 
Pacific Eailroad in these degenerate days, when 
congressmen, nay, even senators, have been known 
to respond with courteous alacrity to its polite 
summons and its proffer of passes. It may be 
imagined, therefore, with what pardonable an- 
noyance the capitalists and scientific gentlemen 
contemplated the lanky man who sauntered into 
their presence some time or other during the day 
and, sprawling his ungainly limbs from a chair, 
lit his atrocious pipe and inquired what they 
wished to see him about. 

The engineers lost no time in explaining their 
difficulty. They said, in effect, that they could 
not for the life of them hit on a suitable point 
whereat to make their hop, skip, and jump over 
the mountains, and they besought Jim Bridger 
to tell them, if he knew, where lay the most prom- 
ising route. 

'*Is that all you wanted!" Jim asked, with a 
note of disgust in his voice. 

** Isn't that enough?'' one of the gentlemen 
rejoined. 



306 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

*^An' that's wot yer fetched me all th' way 
here ferl" 

**It is a very important and jcomplicated ques- 
tion," said one of the engineers, *^and it is caus- 
ing much delay and perplexity." 

Jim Bridger bent upon the group a look of 
withering, but tolerant, contempt. 

*^ Gimme a piece uv paper," said he. **I could 
uv tole you fellers all that in St. Louis and saved 
myself the trouble uv comin' here. Or leastways 
you might uv come to see me." 

Good for old Jim Bridger ! 

To this day, there is carefully preserved in the 
archives of the great Union Pacific Corporation, 
an old piece of manila paper, containing a rough 
diagram drawn in smeary black lines. It is the 
very map made by Jim Bridger when, with a 
fine contempt for all the scientific paraphernalia 
about him, he stooped and picking a dead coal 
out of the fire, drew the crude outline which 
showed the puzzled engineers the way they were 
seeking. 

Pointing to a certain peak, the veteran said, 
**Thar's whar you fellers kin cross with your 
road without more diggin' and cuttin' than you 
think fer." And to-day the thundering trains 
which wake the echoes of those gray canyons as 
they wind through the mighty range cross the 
main spur just where Jim Bridger indicated on 
his crude, coal-drawn diagram. 



JAMES BRIDGER 307 

That map was made by the greatest mountain 
man who ever lived. He knew the Rockies as 
no other scout or trapper ever knew them, which 
is saying a good deal, for Kit Carson and others 
wrenched their secrets from them and were thor- 
oughly at home in their lonely fastnesses. 

But these were all men of the plains also, where- 
as Jim was a sort of Rocky Mountain specialist. 
He it was who discovered the defile which has 
known the tread of many adventurous feet since 
his time and which to this day bears the name 
of Bridger's Pass. It is in the wildest coimtry 
known to man, and the first to discover and ex- 
plore it must have been a venturesome creature 
indeed. 

It is superfluous to say that Jim Bridger ran 
away from home when he was a boy, for nearly 
all famous scouts did that, and this reckless act 
of boyhood, so delectable and spicy in extravagant 
fiction, becomes nothing less than monotonous in 
the history of the great plains. 

Jim was born in Washington, D. C, in 1807, 
and while still a very young boy (the expression 
sounds familiar) he ran away and joined the ex- 
pedition of the explorer, James Ashley — a very 
good man with whom to cast his lot if a boy must 
run away from home at all. 

His falling in with this redoubtable wilderness 
breaker could not have been at a more propitious 
time. Ashley was planning an extensive trapping 



308 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

expedition into the extreme West and lie welcomed 
the yonng fellow with open arms. 

He had already under construction a rongh 
headquarters or '^fort," as they called such sta- 
tions, on the Yellowstone River, which runs across 
the country that is now Dakota and has its source 
in the Bitter Eoot Eange. 

Here, in the year 1822, Ashley assembled a 
daring company of twenty-eight men, the young- 
est of w^hom was Jim Bridger, fifteen years of 
age. It is said that even then Jim was a crack 
shot, and we can thereby form some estimate of 
his qualities in marksmanship after a subsequent 
practice covering a period of many years. The 
accuracy of his aim must have been something 
uncanny in those latter years! 

When all was ready the adventurers, led by 
the fearless Ashley, bent their ^course westward 
toward the frowning mountains, but they were 
soon to meet with almost as resolute a challenge 
to their advance as the rugged heights themselves 
would present. This was the Arikaras tribe of 
Indians who had made a vow that no white man 
should pass their country. 

Encountering the little party of explorers, they 
killed fourteen of their number and wounded ten, 
leaving four out of the twenty-eight to debate 
whether it would be prudent to go farther. 

It was in* that affray that Jim Bridger killed 



JAMES BRIDGER 309 

the first — and the second — of his long list of In- 
dians. Quite a dime novel young hero indeed! 

This setback delayed, but did not discourage, 
the intrepid Ashley, and as for Jim Bridger, now 
that he had had a taste of adventure and Indian 
fighting, wild horses could not have dragged him 
from that delightful field. 

Consequently when the enlarged expedition set 
forth a year or two later this doughty boy scout 
was on hand overflowing with adventurous ex- 
pectations. 

He was now recognized as a rifleman of superb 
skill, a trailer to rival the red man himself, an 
Indian fighter of envious renown even among his 
companions — ^bold, tireless, resourceful, unflinch- 
ing, as brave as a lion, with the vitality of a 
camel, as tough, in short, as a hickory nut, and 
religious — oh, very religious ! 

In that notable party were other men destined 
to win fame in the romance of the Golden West 
— Andy Henry, who had already crossed the Con- 
tinental Divide ; Billie Sublette and old Jed Smith, 
who used the same bullet time and time again on 
the plains or mountains, for buffalo or grizzly. 
An economical, thrifty old soul was he. 

But young Jim Bridger could draw a bead with 
any of them, and could conduct prayers into the 
bargain. He was the scout evangelist of the 
Rockies. 



310 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

Accompanied by his sturdy band, Ashley pushed 
up the North Platte, through the Sweetwater 
Eange of mountains, and into Green Eiver Val- 
ley, which lies in the southwestern part of what 
is now "Wyoming, and is entirely enclosed by 
mountains. 

This was the destination which they had set for 
themselves, and here they established a headquar- 
ters for rendezvous. The plan was for small par- 
ties to go out into the mountains, trapping and 
hunting, and -to return at the end of a year, bring- 
ing their pelts for shipment to the East. 

Thus Jim Bridger, following up the beaver 
streams and exploring the wild, rocky country, 
had his first glimpse of the mighty Kockies. 

Granting the young man an adventurous dis- 
position to begin with, it is not difficult to ap- 
preciate the romantic hold which those giant 
heights gained upon him — a hold which was des- 
tined never to relax in all his long life. Wher- 
ever he went thereafter he was always sure to 
return to his beloved mountains, wandering among 
them, sometimes alone, sometimes with one or 
more comrades, exploring their wild retreats and 
their rocky passes and winding caverns and echo- 
haunted ravines, until it see»med that the great 
range could have no more secrets to reveal to him. 

After the first year 's hunting the men returned 
from their wanderings and young Bridger, like 
the others, turned over a goodly stock of valuable 



JAMES BEIDGER 311 

pelts, the Trophies of his exploring and his marks- 
manship. 

Then the intrepid men set ont again in small 
parties of two or three for another sojonrn in 
the mountains while Ashley returned to St. Louis 
with a stock which made him rich. 

It was on that second hunting trip that Bridger 
and his two companions had a friendly argument 
which was destined to bear momentous conse- 
quences. 

They were resting in a wild spot called Cache 
Valley through which the small Bear River flow^ed, 
and Jim's two comrades fell into a lively dispute 
as to where this stream emptied. The end of it 
was that they made a bet and requested Jim, he 
being a disinterested or at least an impartial 
listener, to go and find out. 

It was agreed that the others should camp 
where they were until he returned, and he there- 
upon set out upon his exploration. The first stage 
of his journey took him through a region where 
he had already trapped and hunted, but before 
long he found himself following the stream into 
unfamiliar territory where he watched for one or 
other of the larger rivers into which he supposed 
the smaller stream flowed. 

At length he thought he caught a glimpse of a 
wide expanse of water between high hills far 
ahead. Scarcely crediting what he saw, for he 
knew the Pacific to be many miles away, he 



312 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

pressed on iintil his uncertain, distant view was 
confirmed by a sight which caused him to pause 
in astonishment. 

For, rounding- the foot of a hill, he beheld a 
vast sheet of water flanked by rugged heights 
and the farther shore of which he could barely 
make out in the hazy distance. 

When he reached the shore of this inland sea 
he paused and gazed across its vast bosom. Then 
he tasted of its water and found it to be salt. 

He was, in fact, standing upon the brink of Bear 
Eiver Bay, an arm of the Great Salt Lake, which 
he was thus the first white man to discover. 

Eeturning to his companions, he told them of 
his discovery, and as the water which he had 
tasted was undoubtedly salt, they decided that it 
must be an arm of the ocean. 

This belief they continued to hold until some 
months later, when several other members of the 
Ashley party sailed completely around the lake 
in a skin canoe. 

So young Jim Bridger, still in his teens, dis- 
covered the Great Salt Lake, an exploit, albeit 
accidental, which should have made his name more 
famous than it is among American explorers. 

When the altogether successful enterprise of 
Ashley was over, he and the band of sturdy trap- 
pers whose courage and sure aim had made him 
rich went east to St. Louis, where, we are told, 
he *^ treated his men handsomely,'' as certainly 



JAMES BEIDGEE 313 

lie should have done, giving them the run of the 
best hotels (which, considering the times, is not 
saying mnch, to be sure), paying them good wages 
for all the time they had been away, and making 
them each a present of three hundred dollars and 
a suit of fashionable store clothes, in which they 
must have looked strange enough, even in that 
frontier community. We should like to have seen 
Jim Bridger in his store clothes. 

As for the three hundred dollars each, that was 
not nearly so surprising. It may not be amiss, 
now that we are about to take leave of our com- 
pany of scouts, to observe that most of the West- 
ern plainsmen and mountaineers could usually 
show imposing, sometimes even staggering, rolls 
of greenbacks. 

We have withheld this statement until the end 
of our trail in order that the sordid mention of 
money might not obtrude itself upon the terri- 
tories of romance. But it is a fact that nearly 
any one of these scouts, guides, trappers, and 
Indian fighters could have hauled forth, at almost 
any time, from the depths of his tattered buck- 
skins, money enough to buy a high-grade twin- 
six touring car in these prosaic times, and have 
had cash enough left to buy tires and gasoline 
for a year! 

Uncle Dick Wooton would have thought shame 
to go about with less than a thousand or two in 
his pockets, and we have already seen how old 



314 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

Jolm Smith had suits made and bought presents 
for a little orphaned boy, and finally gave him 
a parting gift of two hundred dollars ^^fer his- 
self." Rube Stevens, who could not talk, had 
always a few hundreds with him, and even the 
blithesome Belzy Dodd, whose sprightly genius 
might incline one to think him impecunious, 
thought nothing of receiving a thousand or two 
for pelts after a winter's trapping in the Rockies. 

Not that these rough, brave, resourceful and 
supremely picturesque men were mercenary. They 
were not ; they merely thought of a hundred dol- 
lars in the same light spirit in which they blithely 
spoke of traveling a hundred miles. 

They received, and justly so, large sums for 
the perilous and adventurous work they did; 
whether it was freezing in the Rockies, swelter- 
ing on the plains, guiding, scouting, trapping, 
or, perchance, fighting the Indians. 

The sums which passed from hand to hand 
among the rough old scouts who smoked their 
atrocious pipes and told their amazing yarns at 
Bent's Fort were sometimes fabulous. And when, 
peradventure, their wanderings took them to St. 
Louis, or Independence, or Santa Fe, they spent 
small fortunes with a fine prodigality. There is 
an instance reported of one Job Cutter betting 
five thousand dollars cash that he would hit a 
certain buffalo; and there is no doubt that he 
was amply equipped to make good his bet. 



JAMES BRIDGER 315 

After Hs adventures, botli romantic and profit- 
able, with the Ashley expedition, Jim Bridger's 
trail was pretty clearly defined. Back he went 
to his beloved Eockies, and there, with the varia- 
tion of an occasional trip eastward, he lived out 
his days. He became the greatest trapper and 
hunter the mountains had ever known, acquiring 
a familiarity with the great range which won him 
a unique renown even among his colleagues. 

Like Kit Carson (and perhaps he was Carson's 
only rival) Bridger was of a gentle and kindly 
nature, honest to a dot, and with a simple mod- 
esty that won all hearts. 

In 1855, Sir George Gore, a famous Irish 
sportsman, took it into his head to come to Amer- 
ica for an exploring and hunting sojourn in the 
Eockies. 

He did not exactly come alone, for with him, 
by way of retinue, were more than half a hun- 
dred subordinates in the capacities of cooks, 
stewards, secretaries, dog-tenders and goodness 
knows what! It required thirty wagons to ac- 
commodate this sumptuous outfit, but Sir George, 
notwithstanding his suspiciously elaborate equi- 
page, was no dilettante or amateur huntsman. 

Hearing of Jim Bridger, he at once engaged 
him as scout and the two, so different in birth 
and breeding, became fast friends. Jim piloted 
this motley parade wherever it was possible for 
such a cumbersome caravan to go in the Eockies, 



316 THE BOYS' BOOK OF SCOUTS 

and where the company could not go he led 
Sir George here and there among the seclnded 
glens, killing grizzlies with him nntil they had 
*^ dropped^' forty-seven. Sir George, never hav- 
ing seen a grizzly before, had the time of his life 
shooting them, but he conld never (despite long 
experience as a huntsman) a-cquire the skill of 
his tough companion and guide. 

In 1856, Jim Bridger, for what purpose we can- 
not imagine, bought a farm in Westport, Mis- 
souri, within earshot of the din and clatter of 
the growing town of Kansas City. He soon, 
however, thought better of his decision to settle 
down in contaminating proximity to civilization, 
and was off again to the Rockies where he be- 
longed. 

He was close to fifty then — raw-boned, rugged, 
browned, and still keen-eyed. Occasionally he 
went East with his pelts (it was while on such a 
trip that the Union Pacific engineers heard of 
him) but mostly he roamed among his wonted 
haunts *^far from the madding crowd," hunting, 
trapping, until he became old and feeble and 
almost blind. 

Then he went home for good, if one may call 
it home, to his prosy farm near Kansas City. 
We should prefer to think of him as dying as 
Scott's *^ pilgrim of Nature" died, in the shelter- 
ing and loving arms of his noble mountains. 
More stately indeed would have been his couch 



JAMES BRIDGER 317 

in those lonely caverns and deep ravines wliich 
had so often echoed to the report of the steady 
rifle which never missed. But may we not believe 
that, wherever his last mortal resting place, his 
spirit still lingers in the solemn places of the 
wild, lonesome range which he knew and loved 
so well. 



C15 80j 



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